Difficult to end state of emergency as planned: health minister

Japan needs actual states of emergency not these states of statements.

Difficult to end state of emergency as planned: health minister

What is more difficult? Ending pandemic and providing vaccines to whole population. Instead just doing making statement about state of emergency. Even that is not real emergency like other countries might do.

How long can this go on? How long can you ask small businesses to reduce their hours or shut down completely?

it can’t go on forever. There are never going to be zero cases. These politicians need to realize that people need to make a living. Many politicians in Japan are elites who were born into wealth.

Stop putting end dates on them then. The government looks foolish every time.

Last week, the government and the Tokyo metropolitan government asked all medical institutions in the Japanese capital to secure beds and accept as many COVID-19 patients as possible in the first such state-level request

I guess this means they're worried for real now

Difficult to end state of emergency as planned: health minister

what he meant to say is Difficult to stop asking bars and restaurants not serve alcohol and close by 8 as planned. Because that's the only thing the SOE means here

Japan needs actual states of emergency not these states of statements.

Exactly!

Yeah right, difficult to end something that the overwhelming majority of the population doesnt seem to be following in the first place!

And the blame can be placed at the feet of Suga and company! It's their hypocritical half-arsed appeal to the people to follow guidelines that is a HUGE part of it!

Just come down here to Okinawa! While all this BS is going on "up there", down here there are tourists from mainland literally all over the place. The airport, outside of the international terminal, is busy as hell everyday, not yet to pre-covid numbers, but still busy.

Literally tens of thousands of people have made a conscious decision to NOT listen!

The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Tokyo, for example, must fall below 500 for the state of emergency to be lifted, he said

Ok... but I am pretty sure the powers that be will ensure this number is soon reached and maintained because of THIS:

The debate over the extension of the emergency declaration comes as the leadership election for Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party is set for Sept 29, with campaigning to start on Sept 17.

Suga and company need it for this and the Diet election!

How are the large chain restaurants/bars handing this? They're completely closed, do they really make so much money that they can pay rent and staff for so long without running out of money?

The smaller establishments have even less survival chances.

State of emergency? What a joke. Now people are just congregating and drinking on the streets. Not to mention the bar in Shibuya I drank at until 5am. I asked the manager and he laughingly said F it.

What state of emergency?

Just come down here to Okinawa!

We booked twice, looked at the numbers and cancelled twice.

Mr cleo tried to persuade me with images of idyllically empty beaches, great service in shops and restaurants happy for the custom. I countered with images of closed shops and deserted beaches, restaurants serving a scaled-down menu with no booze.

Sounds like we were both wrong.

Sad that we had to cancel, glad that we did.

Next year, maybe....

The first SOE, there was a big difference. Ever since that one, I can't say I've noticed any difference in how people behave. Absolutely pointless.

There is no “State of Emergency” it’s just sound bites people watch on TV while having a holiday in another Prefecture. The Government has lost any relevance in people’s lives. And they like it that way.

Firtsly to the non-real people who post maybe you need a day off work.

I personally think it is time to let the virus do what it is going to do in the long run anyway and that is to try and infect as many people as it can. Now that the most vulnerable people are protected by a vaccine and most people are being sensible it is time to open up properly again.

For most of us that will make no difference to our lives and those companies that have suffered for no real gain can once again bring life back to the country. Yes more people will end up needing hospital treatement and some will die but not in the numbers that some might think.

What the government does need to do if it opened up is make sure hospitals are ready. ICU capacity and bed capacity needs to be increased. That was done in two ways in the UK. They made tempory hospitals that never actually got used and they stopped elective and non-essential medical treatement. They had dedicated wards for covid patients and they moved people into and most importantly out of ICU. Lastly they allowed doctors to decide who gets the ICU bed. There is little point giving full ICU treatment to an 80 year old. Much better to give them a bed and some oxygen and monitor them properly. Tough choices for doctors but in reality doctors do this daily with all sorts of conditions.

At this moment in time a harder lock down would do more harm than good and what is in place at the moment is about as soft as you can get.

Slaps, Tamura.

More like, difficult to do your job.

well, let us know when you actually START doing your job properly.

It just boggles my mind that most hospitals are not accepting covid patients. Meanwhile, people spend hours in ambulances looking for a bed. I guess for the private hospitals it's too mendokusai.

Surely they need some kind of government license to operate? How about revoking that unless they start taking covid patients.

When you never did a proper lockdown back in 2020 when maybe something could have been done to control the spread, then implement a bunch of half-a**ed SoEs even those in charge didn't follow, followed by a snails-paced vaccination program, you shouldn't be surprised with the current state of affairs.

Oh, I forgot to add hosting the Olympics to the list of dumb decisions to the above

Although it would be difficult to do and would be a nightmare to be part of it. Japan needs to consider following other countries and do a complete lockdown for 1 month with borders completely shut. 1 month would allow anyone who currently has the virus to recover and stop the spread.

When something's clearly not working, let's just keep at it.

That's the logic behind the current extended SoE's across the nation.

Mr cleo tried to persuade me with images of idyllically empty beaches, great service in shops and restaurants happy for the custom. I countered with images of closed shops and deserted beaches, restaurants serving a scaled-down menu with no booze.

Some public beaches are closed off, well technically all the beaches are public, but the hotel one's and one's that are not "officially" beaches are thriving!

There are always ways around the alcohol too! lol!

I think what the health minister is trying to say is the only state of emergency is they dont know how to effectively deal with an emergency.

I do hope this ridiculous situation improves soon as its negatively affected everybody's mental health not to mention physical health and quality of life.

But there was no plan except to kill mom and pop restaurants serving food and beer.

Don’t understand why coffee shops open though. Chatty housewives. Masks off. Loud. Sitting for hours.

Quite odd is it not?

Excellent opportunity for certain folk to call for the postponement of the leadership election.

”How can we justify running campaigns for office against a backdrop of Covid mayhem? Let’s wait till things are back to normal…”

I can imagine easily imagine such a statement from interested parties….

@R Ogle

UK as of today is 78% both doses and 88% first dose.

https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/vaccinations

Gov't can go take a flying leap... preferably off of something very high.

These SOEs are doing more damage than covid ever has or will do. They really don't get that way up on high.

Seriously think we ought to just start revolting.

When you never did a proper lockdown back in 2020

What? There was no need for a lockdown in 2020.

Also no need now actually.

How many dead?

very difficult" to lift a COVID-19 state of emergency on its planned Sept 12 expiry 

I don’t even see a state of an emergency. All I see is packed overly crowded trains. pedestrians all over the places and restaurants all refusing beer and closing at 8pm

Governments, with very few exceptions such as the national governments of Sweden and Denmark (which recently abandoned the tyrannical vaccine "passport" system) and state governments like those of Florida, South Dakota and Texas, seem determined to ruin the economies of the places they rule over, using this virus as the excuse and coercion via vaccination as the tool.

Australia has turned it into an art form, while Japan is, thankfully, dithering. Remember that the elites don't care about you one whit, and are comfortable in their easy jobs with guaranteed pay rises to shield them from the effects of their policies. And if the economic crippling guts their tax receipts? Just print more! And dole out the crumbs to the plebs in the form of "emergency payments" and UBI. A constant stream of bad news numbs most of the population, making it easier to inflict pain.

Or you can fight back through non-violent civil disobedience such as supporting businesses that operate outside these insane rules, do like the French and mock the rules by picnicking in from of restaurants that require vaccine passports, and lobby your local elected officials to oppose this insanity. Most won't listen, but some do.

sooo......keep up your ridiculous anti-alcohol drive, even although that's the measures you've brought in for the past 2 months to reduce cases, that haven't reduced case....so your plan is to just continue with a failed policy that has no effect on the outcome you are striving for......gotcha....clear as mud. Great leadership yet again by the J-Gov

Sometimes one must abandon ship and let everyone fend for themselves

"Given the current situation of just trying to pray it away but actually doing nothing, it's probably very difficult"

Fixed it.

The more I watch this pandemic the more I think the LDP knows exactly what they are doing. The LDP knows the virus isn’t that bad and that the number of fatalities is lower than the yearly number of death by suicide, cancer and others. Has anyone noticed how the annual flu spikes have completely vanished? It has been widely pointed out that the virus appears to be deadly at beaches, cycling paths, community centers, gyms, bars and restaurants (and only after 8pm and in the presence of alcohol) but having the Olympics, the Fuji Rock Festival and Disneyland continue as usual is not a threat. No, I think the LDP is using this as an excuse to amend the constitution which has been its long time dream. We can’t have a real lockdown, they say, because it goes against our constitution. Let us change the constitution..and article 9 by extension….and we’ll give you your lockdown. Of course the lockdown is a terrible idea and will kill so many businesses and destroy families and unleash a wave of mental illness never before seen but that is a small price to pay for finally being allowed to enter the lucrative international arms market which is what the LDP has wanted for decades. Beside, as also pointed out, all politicians by and large are elites who have never known a day of want in their lives.

@ nator perfectly said , in a nutshell.

The number of daily COVID-19 cases in Tokyo, for example, must fall below 500 for the state of emergency to be lifted, he said. The capital reported 3,081 new COVID-19 cases Sunday, showing no clear signs of abating anytime soon.

With no additional measures this will take years to get under 500 again.

This past week Japan crossed the 45% fully vaccinated mark. 1 week ago it was 40%. In the next 2 weeks they will eclipse 55%. This will surpass the US. By the end of September they will likely hit 70%. This will surpass the UK and most of the EU or at least come close. No more SOE!!!

No need to compare

With no additional measures this will take years to get under 500 again.

Hopefully not.

At the moment we have the vaccination.

They need to step it up several notches

Of course

Difficult to end state of emergency as planned: health minister

Just end it and concentrate ressources on protecting vulnerable groups! The government seems to have bought into the ludicrious goal that all "cases" must be brought to zero. If that is the goal, we have lockdowns in infinity. Enough is enough.

Covid might be a 4( )Ax you never know

AlongfortherideToday  09:25 am JST

Although it would be difficult to do and would be a nightmare to be part of it. Japan needs to consider following other countries and do a complete lockdown for 1 month with borders completely shut. 1 month would allow anyone who currently has the virus to recover and stop the spread.

This hasn't happened anywhere else in the world, what makes you think it would work in Japan?

Tamura said the ministry does not intend to reveal the names of all medical institutions even if they do not comply with the request in an arbitrary manner, but it is rather focusing on asking them to understand the difficult coronavirus situation.

Surely, the public has a right to know why and which hospitals refuse to treat and aid sick people?

I most certainly would…

Although it would be difficult to do and would be a nightmare to be part of it. Japan needs to consider following other countries and do a complete lockdown for 1 month with borders completely shut. 1 month would allow anyone who currently has the virus to recover and stop the spread.

This hasn't happened anywhere else in the world, what makes you think it would work in Japan?

It worked in China.

Time to distribute ivermectin; an easy and safe way to free up the hospitals.

At least half a year too late, the minuscule chance that ivermectin had any usefulness for COVID has been reduced with every new study (and every rectraction of an old one) by now nobody has any realistic hope it helps in any way.

not hold your breath for Big Pharma sponsored institutions and governments to advocate using cheap, off-patent, easily available drugs. Pipe dream.

Like every single institute of science and medicine in the whole world? because those are the ones that say ivermectin don't have data that actually indicates it helps. Obviously you can't expect people to believe every single one is on a supposed conspiracy, right? that would be unbelievable, specially becaue cheap off patent easily available drugs are being used against COVID and they had no problem being recognized as effective, like dexamethasone.

Half measures (or more like a quarter or a fifthed...) produce most of the time no result. It is more cannon fodder for them to be sure to obtain lead again.

It's all about testing, testing for a so called deadly variant that has more than a 99 percent recovery rate. So, how many people died ? We do know of some who have already died in Japan after being inoculated . There is no need for any state of emergency for a so called virus that can not be isolated - meaning that laboratories around the world can not actually find it. Some pretty good CGI pictures of the virus are often shown.

The inventor of PCR tests has stated that it it is of no use testing on Humans and shouldn't be used. Why are so many who have been jabbed test positive and are told to wear a mask, Ha.

If anyone who was ill and ended up in a hospital and was put on any ventilator will usually end up dead and it will be said that they died of covid. The damage by lock downs on businesses is doing more damage to society than this elusive virus.

If this SoE goes forever it is going to be a second sakoku for Japan. Just lift it for a month so people who are waiting to return Japan or people with CoE can actually start their lives in Japan. I've been waiting for a year for SoE to lifted to join my company.

Oh! that was a plan?

Captain Obvious strikes again.

What does the country expect after the mismanagement of the last year and half. How can Koike say stay home and let 100,000 blue into the country for a sporting event/super spreader event?

Everyone who can be vaccinated should be vaccinated for the sake of those who can't.  Anti-vaxxers are getting people killed and crippling our ability to get on with our daily lives.

@Sam Watters a very interesting and chilling theory. Would not surprise me at all. The LDP has for a long time wanted to amend the constitution and may see this as their best chance.