Japan extends state of emergency for Tokyo, 8 other areas to June 20

As long as the precious LDP Olympics are going ahead we should allnstay home and and wait for the vaccine which we should be getting sometime in 2023 at this rate!!

Pathetic!!

I am used to work in the very cynical world of professional sports but I have never seen it to this extend. IOC, LOC sponsors, tokyo BUT also the athletes and their managers are equally guilty to this betrayal of ethics, morals and basic values.

I must accept that I wasted my professional life believing in values that apparently do not exist. It is a hard and rude awaking but one I can not ignore.

sad for me, even more sad for all those abusing sports and it’s potential

Concerns are also growing about the highly contagious Indian variant of the virus, which health experts warn could quickly become the dominant strain in Japan.

Make that will quickly become the dominant strain in Japan.

Thanks Suga, Bach and Koike. You are the best of the best. Love ya!

At this rate, it appears that the majority of 2021 will be under some kind of state of emergency for Japan. I'm all for strong measures to contain the virus. But people are just going to get fatigued at some point. There needs to be some kind of clear goal or plan in place here. Otherwise, it just feels like being stuck in limbo with no way forward.

Is the J-gov blind to the fact that SOEs have made very little difference to the amount of new cases?

It’s hasn’t worked for a month what makes them think extending the SOE in the same manner will work this time?

People are simply ignoring the SOE.

Massively speeding up vaccination seems their only option right now.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to formalize the decision at a task force meeting in the evening before holding a press conference to explain the move.

Lol.... Do I even need to comment on the absurdity of this? This is exactly what is wrong with the current situation in Japan.

As long as we have the Olympics we can all happily die in a bliss afterwards.

Wonder how the great vaccine rollout is going...

This is going to kill a lot of businesses.

I don't understand why won't the Japanese gov just use paramedics, med students, vets, pensioners, etc. Heck, even I can administer that injection, it's a simple one, straight to the muscle, no need to find a vein. Give them a 30 min crush course and BOOM, you've got ten thousand more people that can administer the vaccine.

The Japanese people are amazing, so patriotic, and caring about their country and fellow citizens. I'm sure so many of them will be willing to volunteer to help with speeding the vaccination process.

I really wish the best for you all.

The government owes the populace an explanation as to why Japan lags so far behind other developed countries in rolling out a vaccination program.

1glennToday  06:25 pm JST

The government owes the populace an explanation as to why Japan lags so far behind other developed countries in rolling out a vaccination program.

very simple, Vaccine is not made in Japan, it hurt their Japanese pride

And the bankruptcies grow.

Surprise!!

The Japanese people really can stand a lot cant they. In any other country no would take this

I got so sick of my work being interrupted that I got out of Japan!

it was the right decision.

Suga will formalize at a meeting of the ‘task force’

a task force = is a time bound AND an outcome focused group.

please it’s just like an episode of Frank Spencer !

"on the whole, the situation is highly unpredictable," Suga told reporters Thursday

The virus itself and the way it is transmitted is actually highly predictable. We know how it spreads, and largely how contagious each strain is.

What makes this particular situation in Japan 'highly unpredictable' is the fact that people are being allowed to go about their daily lives pretty much as normal. Testing isn't nearly good enough, therefore we have no idea how many people are actually infected, asymptomatic or otherwise, and millions of people are commuting around the cities on packed trains, working in small offices, traveling between prefectures etc. Contact tracing systems have broken down, and hardly anyone has been vaccinated.

It's no wonder the 'situation is highly unpredictable'.

The main reason for all of this is that 'the government is highly incompetent'.

And meanwhile several pachinko parlors in my neighborhood remain open regardless.

Vaccine. Immunization. Now.

Not To Worry, It's will all be under control comes June 20th. LOL

59.7% public opposition. Hospitals in Osaka & Hyogo are struggling. Okinawa cases are rising sharply. Indian Variant could already be here. Only 6% of the population received one dose. Shortage of doctors & Nurses

But i will say this, it's been 3 and half months since Japan started it's vaccination program, and things has turned from bad to worse since then, with only 6 % semi vaccinated.

If there is anything Japan should be doing NOW is to make vaccinating it's citizens TOP PRIORITY, and nothing else, NO OLYMPICS, NO Military Exercises, or any other major events that could divert medical or logistic resources.

Yawn.......................

Wake me up when they announce the NEXT SOE extension on June 18.

That one will most likely be until 6/30 or 7/4.

And then the next one. and the next one................with no end in sight.

So predictable.

The biggest mystery here is, how many more times they will extend this charade in 2021.

Infections are declining in some of the areas but "on the whole, the situation is highly unpredictable," Suga told reporters.

Testing that had been low to begin with has been reduced even further to create the artificial low numbers.

It will not change the outcome. Japanese LDP idiotocy of rinse and repeat the same O bs that never work while they blame 8pm and booze aha-hah

I’ll be ignoring it as best I can. All these politicians care about is their Olympics. Not one of them has volunteered to take a pay cut for the stress they’re deliberately putting on the country.

Ooooooooh yeah! Ooooooooh wee! Tokyo is sure going to be ready for those big big Olympic Games and it's going to be a big blg blast, yeah yeah yeah.

PM Suga, be a man and face reality. Call the Games off until next year.

Hey! Japan just overtook Zimbabwe in vaccinations! Closing in on India (that's not a misprint), Nepal, and the West Bank and Gaza.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/world/covid-vaccinations-tracker.html

And if the testing numbers are to be believed, the number of positive cases has fallen even more than the number of tests, and the R number is well under 1, particularly in Osaka. In fact in Osaka, it only briefly glitched above 1. It's just a mystery how the health system could supposedly be under such strain, given the numbers, and the decision to extend the SoE is just puzzling, if everything is as the official number says . Curiouser and curiouser.

https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html

Said it earlier..and saying it again...

We are going to live in a continued state of emergency, which would be made tighter until the cursed event is over...

And then, let's blame the explosion in cases on the Indian variant... How convenient!!

What kind of Emergency is it when everything is open?

Zoroto

I'd suggest everybody to take their fate into their own hands. I am getting my vaccine in July, not waiting until the second half of 2022, the earliest.

Great, if you can do that. In many countries though, you'd need to be a resident there, to be able to get the vaccine there. I, for example, can't return to my home country for a "vaccication", as I officially live in Japan. There are also time restraints; you'd need extra time for 2 x quarantines, and then the 3 weeks or so (?) in between the 2 shots. Not many people can get that much time off from their jobs here in Japan.

People out and about, restaurants and bars full, useless vaccine efforts. I'm absolutely sick to death of it.

So if you even for 1 minute think the olumpics can be held in this situation you obviously have severe mental issues, and probably were dropped on your head at birth .

If that is the case then I whole hartedley admit , I was dropped on my head at birth . Not ashamed of that fact , just so happens I was born a hard headed obstinate one. But even so , I still think the olumprics should be counseled

I don't understand why won't the Japanese gov just use paramedics, med students, vets, pensioners, etc. Heck, even I can administer that injection, it's a simple one, straight to the muscle, no need to find a vein. Give them a 30 min crash course and BOOM, you've got ten thousand more people that can administer the vaccine.

My thoughts exactly! All this caution, hand-wringing, indecision, vacillating and uncertainty is costing peoples' lives.....

@Reckless: Same way as you!

why Is there a continuous narrative that there aren’t enough doctors and nurses to administer the vaccine? seems to me, that there are no logistics in place to deliver the vaccine to clinics. or anywhere.

as has been pointed out, doctors, nurses, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, lab technicians, paramedics, medical students, and perhaps any retired people from the correct professions. and, if there was a real shortage, training and qualification could be done rather quickly as in other countries.

Japan must not lose face! The Olympic pay day is a must!

Josh Rogin. Listen to him! The Joe Rogan experience! Mind blowing what’s been discovered about this virus.

Many of the usually quiet and obedient Japanese people will find another 20 days of SOE intolerable. Even a worm will turn. I bet there’s going to be some sort of rioting or mass disobedience movement.

As usual, inconveniencing everyone for their precious Olympics. Still plenty of bars and restaurants ignoring the 'request' and domestic airfare at least should remain cheap. Discounted AirBNB near the beach in Okinawa sounds like a good idea on the weekends.

Effective Reproduction Rate has been declining constantly for the last 10 days, below 1.0 (today 0.84) in spite no global vaccination, If R0 is less than 1, the infection will spread only slowly, and it will eventually die out.