Tokyo Finds 102 New Virus Cases as It Tries to Avoid Blanket Curbs

(Bloomberg) --

Tokyo found 102 new coronavirus cases on Monday, NHK reported, marking the fifth consecutive day of more than 100 infections as the city tries to fend off a resurgence without resorting to widespread business shutdowns.

The latest figure comes as Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike was elected to a second term in a landslide victory. After declaring her win on Sunday, she said now is a crucial time to prepare for a second wave as cases jump to the highest levels in two months.

Koike said she wants to avoid a broad request to shut down businesses, and instead take a more targeted approach focusing on certain industries and specific areas. Nighttime entertainment establishments like host clubs have been tied to the rise in cases, and Koike has asked residents to refrain from going to such districts.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of Japan’s coronavirus response, has also called for greater cooperation from businesses, saying that nobody wants to ask for more closures and that the government isn’t considering declaring another state of emergency at this time.

Speaking after the first meeting of a newly formed panel of experts on Monday, Nishimura said the country was going ahead with plans to further ease restrictions on July 10, opening the way for limited numbers of fans to attend professional baseball and soccer games.

“The committee has agreed that the current situation is different from that of early April,” said Nishimura. But, he added, “we do share a sense of crisis that there’s a certain amount of cases where the contagion route is unclear, that even among younger patients there are severe cases, and that the number of elderly patients are increasing.”

Shigeru Omi, who heads the committee, said that there was a need to bring in a strategic plan for testing going forward, and suggested there should be different categories of testing according to risk level.

Closing Clubs

Tokyo’s situation is drawing attention as health experts watch renewed outbreaks in regions around the globe that had previously gained control over coronavirus cases. As countries try to reopen their economies, these flare-ups are revealing just how hard it will be to eradicate Covid-19 without a vaccine.

Australia’s two most-populous states are closing their shared border, while one of them, Victoria, has locked down 12 areas of Melbourne after the worst spike in cases since the crisis began. South Korea has wrestled with repeated outbreaks, including ones tied to nightclubs, and Beijing is just getting past a cluster of cases related to a wholesale market.

Japanese officials have insisted that circumstances are different this time around, with most of the new cases found in younger people who tend not to require hospitalization. Tokyo released new monitoring criteria last week that will place a greater emphasis on the state of the medical system. Only 16.6% of 4,800 beds in the city dedicated to coronavirus patients are currently occupied.

Koike has however called for Tokyo residents to avoid travel to other prefectures. Nearby regions have seen cases increase over the past two weeks, and the rising infections are not limited just to Tokyo. In Kagoshima prefecture in the southern island of Kyushu, more than 80 infections can be traced to one cabaret club.

Kagoshima Governor Satoshi Mitazono plans to call for all nighttime entertainment establishments in the region to close their doors for two weeks from July 8, the Yomiuri newspaper reported. The move would affect host and hostess clubs and other venues where clients socialize with staff, with authorities making payments to support the establishments affected. The move could increase pressure on authorities in Tokyo to take similar steps.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.