Japan's top COVID-19 adviser wary of easing restrictions

as will certain safe and effective early treatments, which Omi and Tamura continue to ignore...

The reason is that they are not particularly safe and are completely ineffective, so it is perfectly fine for them to ignore them. Believing otherwise is not enough of an argument to prove the scientific consensus about it false.

Chiba Semi-Lurker

I can now eat at restaurants past 8PM. LOL. But still wondering what's the difference if I ate before that.

The difference would be that they are less crowded now, avoiding the super-spreader events of shoulder-to-shoulder overcrowding from 7 to 8pm, when virus mysteriously woke up and sprang into action, according to our genius bureacrats.

I really had enough of this guy. If he has his will, Japan turns into dystopian, disfunction, paranoit, authoritarian nightmare of a nation of hikikomoris shut off from social contact. Good grief.

excellent post by Zaphod. Couldn’t agree more!

I can now eat at restaurants past 8PM. LOL. But still wondering what's the difference if I ate before that.

The corona virus is already endemic everywhere on the globe like the influenza and many others. Everybody will get infected sooner or later, vaccine or no vaccine. Vaccine will keep you out of the hospital (for 6 months after the jab at least).

... as will certain safe and effective early treatments, which Omi and Tamura continue to ignore...

Over 60 percent of the population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of September, bringing Japan on a par with major European countries such as Britain and France, according to the government.

70.4% of French people are fully vaccinated, and this is today. not 60 in 2 weeks

longtimenosee

This will continue worldwide until vaccines are mandatory.

With so many infections, the probability of an omega variant is increasing, that will pass from nose to nose through the air and wreck havoc in children. 

...which is information you got from where? Nostradamus?

I really had enough of this guy. If he has his will, Japan turns into dystopian, disfunction, paranoit, authoritarian nightmare of a nation of hikikomoris shut off from social contact. Good grief.

This will continue worldwide until vaccines are mandatory.

With so many infections, the probability of an omega variant is increasing, that will pass from nose to nose through the air and wreck havoc in children. Full vaccinations (with exceptions for those who are genuinely at risk of side effects) is the only to stamp this virus out. But half the world is resisting in their ignorance.

The corona virus is already endemic everywhere on the globe like the influenza and many others. Everybody will get infected sooner or later, vaccine or no vaccine. Vaccine will keep you out of the hospital (for 6 months after the jab at least). Time to move this past us and continue living.

Omi said, "It may take about two to three years until the public no longer has to worry about COVID-19, like the influenza in which we have vaccines and medications,"

The influenza vaccines are only 40-60% effective. In the US on an average year, only about 50% get the influenza vaccine. There are no medications for curing influenza only medications for treating symptoms. People's immune systems and influenza vaccines (if they cover the year's strains) are only defense against influenza.

Israelis are also still strugglin despite high vaccination rates. I don't think everyone wants to be jabbed 2-3 times a year for a booster. Time to consider doing what many suggested from the beginning.

I am very surprised that Japan who was lagging well behind the world when it come to starting, and dishing out the vaccine, by some sort of miricle it has happened and they are catching up with the world on vaccine injections. when I first read this article, BS, never in a million years have they caught up, but apparently they have. https://ourworldindata.org/covid-vaccinations.

We all saw what happened in Australia

there were violent protests. There is no denying it. Anyway, you can’t compare Japan to Australia and most reasonable people know we can’t completely eliminate Covid so we have to adjust.

Johnsan#

They (Australia) are just cruising along getting all vac up knowing that lockdowns will be lifted at 70% fully vaccinated and at 80% International borders will opened with home quarantine and at 90% no quarantine for fully vaccinated internation travellers. The Aussies know this so they have a end game in sight. So there is no rioting only drunk anti vaccination people protesting.

Bang on. The difference between having a game plan, and 'the stumbling catchup efforts to where, exactly?" is key!

@stangerland ah yes, because the Australian outback is so similar to Tokyo.

« Bringing Japan on a par with major European countries such as Britain and France », which have opened their borders long ago and where incoming and returning vaccinated people don’t need to quarantine…

Lifting the local restrictions after the end of the state of emergency means lifting the restrictions after there isn’t any.

But of course nobody is even remotely thinking of letting foreigners in, or reducing/removing quarantine, only about getting the Japanese vaccine passport accepted by other countries and answering them with some vague fake embarrassment when they ask reciprocity.

Japan initially lagged far behind other major economies in inoculating its population. Facing criticism, the government has made relatively fast progress since, setting up mass inoculation sites and offering workplace vaccinations.

Claims without references. Can we get some numbers please. It is tiring to be taken for an idiot by the media. What does "relatively fast" mean as a performance metric?

The man is dangerous and out of touch. This is the guy who demanded the Olympics be cancelled as they would be a super spreader and cause a new variant. He also urged the government to pass laws to allow draconian lockdowns and restrict movement.

He clearly out of touch with reality and with what’s really occurring on the streets.

Always too little and always too late,Japan became the role model in the western of how not to do things,so much for what Abe and Aso claimed about their moral superiority at the beginning of the pandemic.

the gentlemen drinking the water says it all! if they take this so seriously maybe he should leave the room and go to a less populated area to drink his water

Weird how he says there'll be a rebound when there wasn't in the UK. The 'experts' suddenly went very quiet, surprise surprise. Denmark is just opening up now and so will Sweden to 100% soon; the silence on the lack of an apocalypse is conspicuous.

He's probably speaking about what his crystal ball says... sorry, computer models.

He needs to provide an excuse/pressure for more people to get vaccinated, or get boosters.

Also, love the social distancing in the picture...

Yes, and they're drinking out of a glass!

Omi is an idiot!

Yes, and so is the health minister Tamura, the guy drinking from a glass...

Omi is not the brightest light out there on being up to date with COVID research. Last nights NHK news had him finally recognizing that COVID spreads via aerosol micro droplets as if this was world breaking revelation from him. Well maybe in Japan but I think most experts world wide have realized this for over a year now. Not long ago he was advocating greater government powers to enforce strict lockdowns. Dangerous guy! Lucky the government mostly ignore him although the news gives him a mouthpiece.

What resctrictions? Other than no large events going on (although some have e.g. Aichi) there are;nt any restrictions. 70% are going oncrowded trains to their office, bars are open, travel within the country is ok.

And there have been many days in the past year where Australia was covid free.

Those days are over.

Dan, What you witness is a normal protest which occurs two or three times with hundreds arrested in a normal year. Nothing out of norm except protests have been less since Covid19.

Please roll out the non-mRNA vaccines, please.

Or someone needs to point out to you that it's entirely possible. There are a few Australian states with zero covid, right now, today. And there have been many days in the past year where Australia was covid free.

Its not realistically possible. Yes, I'm sure some states in Australia (and elsewhere) have been able to temporarily work it down to zero on occasion, but unless the virus is eradicated globally the second they ease travel and other restrictions - which they'll have to do someday, keeping everything locked down isn't a sustainable long term solution - it'll find its way back in. These are fleeting victories, not a permanent new equilibrium they've achieved.

Our societies are going to have to learn to live with it, we might have had a shot at eradicating it very early on but with it having spread to hundreds of millions of people around the world now, that ship has long since sailed.

Man stands behind ineffectual and possibly counter productive plastic screen to lecture others on the need to continue ineffective and damaging restrictions.

The damage done to children by prolonged face mask use is incalculable.

@John San.

not what I saw mate!

I see people attacking police and police attacking protesters !!

"It may take about two to three years until the public no longer has to worry about COVID-19"

Personally, I'm not worried about Covid-19. I'm worried about the Vaccine Passports, my freedom to travel back home without having to quarantine for 2 weeks, the constant need to get a booster every couple months and all the other inconveniences this scamdemic has caused.

Also, love the social distancing in the picture...

Because they know its BS. And if they don't care, why should we? Same with masks.

BTW, there was a video posted on LinkedIn yesterday of some government briefing in France. The camera was rolling without all the unmasked people realising it, and they all put on their masks just before they thought the camera was about to switch on. Further proof that this fear campaign is a massive scam.

called for relaxing measures only after the state of emergency is lifted.

Doesn't lifting state of emergency also means lifting of restrictions?

Sounds like he is jealous of Australia, with various restrictions and controls in place for who knows how long and no end goal.

Love how they try to paint COVID, which has had minimal impact in Japan even without vaccines, as the once-in-eternity virus that has the potential to wipe out the entire population as soon as they lift restrictions.

And places like the U.S., with much greater health risk, has been wide open for a while now.

Wonder what's really going on?

Mr Omi should be accountable for the cheat of (publicly funded) hospitals for which he is a board member. They are suspected of having denied covid patients admission while having received 13.2 billion yen as state subsidy for cooperation. Why not starting at his own backyard first if he is to seek more cooperation or sensibility from people and businesses?

【独自】コロナ病床30～50％に空き、尾身茂氏が理事長の公的病院　132億円の補助金「ぼったくり」

https://dot.asahi.com/dot/2021083100080.html?page=1

All the same, economic crimes with regard to state subsidy programs are coming into public attention and criticism. Hospitals can never be exempted from it. Many beds remain available, yet many have died at home without proper care ... that is most ridiculous!

This directly calls for some other politician or official to say the opposite and possibly come up with some "new" and novel campaign like Go2Travel. Because here we like things complicated and chaotic. If one says this, the other must say the opposite. People are then confused, and this directly calls for the creation of a new job, such as "pandemic coordinator".

Seriously, where do they keep coming up with these ideas?

what a load of garbage.

The pretend state of emergency would then be in perpetuity.

Lift alcohol sales now, because it hasn't had any effect on case numbers.....I'm sick of these pretend measures that are no more effective than the stupid mask non-sick people wear on their faces

The JP government needs to understand that Covid will not disappear completely. So infected people will continue, but their illness will not be so severe. It is about hospital occupation. The more people are vaccinated the better. It is time Japan opens up, it has become too isolated.

Omi is against easing the restrictions because then people will know how incompetent this guy has been since the start of the pandemic.

The only restrictions I see are for foreigners coming into Japan. Inside, it's like business as usual.

What restrictions?

And I don't get this "borders" thing. There are no borders.

Of course he is...but who cares what he thinks. Boy needs a dose of reality.

Dan, A few thousand protest. amongst this protest where a few hundred, drinking alchole, all fuel up and hell bent on a fight with any one not just the police . The Army have been ask to help out on logistics only like directing people at vac centre, parking, checking up on people in home isolation. Dan you sure your not reading the news about Mynamar? They (Australia) are just cruising along getting all vac up knowing that lockdowns will be lifted at 70% fully vaccinated and at 80% International borders will opened with home quarantine and at 90% no quarantine for fully vaccinated internation travellers. The Aussies know this so they have a end game in sight. So there is no rioting only drunk anti vaccination people protesting.

100% right on @Yubaru

If the top adviser for covid-19 is wary, we better sit up and listen to his opinion, like it or not.

I get that we need to get our economy back up and running again, but if it leads to a spike of cases again, we're definitely back to square one. The last thing we need is another hard lockdown again.

wary of easing restrictions

It means we want to act as if we are doing something but actually we do not know what we are doing.

What restrictions? Lol. Not sitting down at the combini to eat?

@Strangerland also in Australia people are fighting with police on the street and the army is patrolling the streets...

Just the price you pay huh?!

Out of all the people in the government who have been talking heads during this "emergency" Omi seems to be, at least in my opinion, the only one who has been talking straight and saying what has been needed to be said.

He was against the Olympics being held and contrary to what some seem to think here, he is NOT advocating a "0" covid policy either and his comment here is spot on!

Looking ahead, Omi warned that the fight against the new virus is expected to last for a long time. "It may take about two to three years until the public no longer has to worry about COVID-19, like the influenza in which we have vaccines and medications," he said.

People here went proverbially bat-guano crazy during the "shingatta" influenza wave years ago, and after a year or two, learned how to deal with it, get vaccinated, and take proper precautions.

Someone needs to tell this guy Covid zero is impossible.

Or someone needs to point out to you that it's entirely possible. There are a few Australian states with zero covid, right now, today. And there have been many days in the past year where Australia was covid free.

Someone needs to tell this guy Covid zero is impossible. We gotta move on with our lives. The govt had almost two years to secure more beds. How much more time do they need?

... allowing people to travel across prefectural borders

Allow? There has never been any enforced restrictions on crossing prefectural borders. People come and go as they please because the SoE is toothless.

Also, love the social distancing in the picture...

Viewing Japan from the outside is like looking at a time warp-always behind…

Omi is an idiot!

Japan initially lagged far behind other major economies....

Nice nuance. That sounds like a blip. It should say, "Japan lagged far behind other major economies until very recently."

Japan's recent "economy-first" government who cannot distinguish wishful thinking and actuality expect end of corona virus whenever new cases decreased, eased restriction. 

And they had repeated infection spreading after all, victimized more people than neighbouring countries.

But they have learned nothing from this one and half year, and hurry to ease restriction.

Very strange to always be reading about analogies during a pandemic.

I have yet to read an article that isn’t also a self evaluating one.

Seems to be able to discern “how Japan is doing” for me. Also seems to tell me how many infections there are as if it were fact.

The best bit is how I am always reassured that the government here has done well…compared to other countries.