Japanese prefectural governors on Saturday expressed concerns over the potential impact of the central government's laying out of its plans for a future easing of COVID-19 restrictions even as it extended the state of emergency in Tokyo and many other areas.
The governors said the announcement of the scenario to relax curbs on traveling and large events around November once most of the population has been vaccinated could make the public too optimistic about the pandemic situation at a time when coronavirus infections are still surging.
The government decided Thursday to extend the state of emergency covering 21 of Japan's 47 prefectures, slated to end Sunday, through Sept. 30 in 19 prefectures, also including Hokkaido, Aichi, Osaka and Fukuoka.
Nationwide daily COVID-19 cases topped 25,000 in mid-August but have since fallen by more than half.
Driven by the highly contagious Delta variant, the number of patients with severe symptoms exceeded 2,000 for the first time in late August and has remained high, putting a strain on the country's health care system.
In some cases, COVID-19 patients denied hospital admission have died while recuperating at home, highlighting the seriousness of the hospital bed shortage.
During the online meeting of the National Governors' Association, Gunma Gov. Ichita Yamamoto said, "If the restrictions are eased too quickly and preventive measures such as wearing masks are neglected, the virus will spread."
The association urged that the government present a vaccination rate target for the relaxation and make sure to prevent people who are unvaccinated from being treated unfairly.
Akita Gov. Norihisa Satake said, "The idea of using a vaccination certification will lead to discrimination."
The government's unveiling of its plans for a loosening of restrictions come amid growing calls to restart economic activity as businesses, particularly in the food services and tourism sectors, reel from the fallout of the pandemic.
Under the plans, the government will no longer require restaurants in prefectures under the emergency to refrain from serving alcohol and close early, so long as they are certified as having measures in place to prevent infections.
People will also be allowed to dine in larger groups, travel across prefectural borders, and go to large events with more than 5,000 attendees such as concerts and sports games if they have been fully vaccinated or provide negative test results.
