Weekly Share News in Japan

For this week’s share news, Japan confirmed a record 2,820 daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, further raising concerns over the strain on the medical system as the country continues to grapple with a spike in infections.

Suga Plans to Exten Go To Travel Campaign

Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide has said the government is planning to extend its Go To Travel discount campaign beyond the original expiry date of January 30 next year. Suga discussed the subsidy program during a meeting of the government’s tourism promotion taskforce.

Suga acknowledged that Japan has seen a continued rise in new coronavirus cases recently, but he said that his government intends to continue with the Go To Travel campaign in an effort to keep jobs, under its policy of protecting both people’s lives and their livelihoods. He stressed that the program will be extended on the understanding that strict public health measures are taken to prevent the spread of the virus.

Tokyo May Pay Largest Share of Games Extra Costs

Tokyo Metropolitan Government is expected to pay the largest portion of additional costs for next year’s Olympics and Paralympics. The extra spending is due to be shared by the metropolitan government, the central government, and the Games’ organizing committee.
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Sources say the additional expenditures are estimated to total 300 billion yen, or roughly 2.9 billion dollars. They include outlays related to the Games’ postponement to next summer and measures to prevent coronavirus infections. As for the postponement costs, about 1.06 billion dollars may be borne by the organizing committee, some 770 million dollars by the metropolitan government, and roughly 144 million dollars by the central government.

Bird Flu Spreads in Japan, Record Cull Underway

Poultry farms in western Japan are likely to cull a record number of chickens due to bird flu, surpassing the previous record cull registered ten years ago. Since early November, bird flu has hit 17 poultry farms in the six western prefectures of Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Hyogo, Kagawa, Miyazaki, and Nara.

More than 2.2 million chickens are expected to be culled over a one-month period.

Daily Cororanavirus Infections in Japan Hit Record

Japan confirmed a record 2,820 daily coronavirus infections on Thursday, further raising concerns over the strain on the medical system as the country continues to grapple with a spike in infections.

Large cities in Hokkaido as well as urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka have been seeing rising coronavirus cases since November, which has been described by medical experts as a “third wave” of infections in Japan.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan’s virus response, said on Nov. 25 that “the next three weeks will be critical” to prevent the spread of the virus and to protect the country’s medical system.

The Capital Tokyo Also Reports Daily Record Cases!

Tokyo also saw a record 602 daily coronavirus cases the same day, reported by Tokyo Metropolitan Government. The figure, which surpassed 584 cases logged Saturday, brought the number of total infections confirmed in the capital to 45,529.

A panel of the Tokyo metropolitan government monitoring the pandemic assessed that it has become “difficult” for hospitals to provide usual health care services and treatment for COVID-19 patients at the same time.

“The medical system has started to become strained, and preventing an increase of new patients and those with severe symptoms is the top priority,” the panel said.

Last month, the Tokyo metropolitan government raised its virus alert to the highest of four levels, and requested that restaurants and other establishments serving alcohol close at 10 p.m. until Dec. 17. Tokyo is the hardest-hit of Japan’s 47 prefectures.

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