Japan Trying to Avoid Pre-Emergency as 7th Wave Creeps Close

Tokyo, April 13 (Jiji Press)--With a possible seventh wave of COVID-19 infections looming, the Japanese government is trying to avoid reinstating a coronavirus pre-emergency or full-scale emergency as both hinder social and economic activities.

On Tuesday, the government sent a liaison team to the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, where COVID-19 cases have spiked, while accelerating efforts to promote the third round of COVID-19 vaccinations among the younger generation.

It was the second time for the central government to send a team to Okinawa, after its first dispatch in January, when the country was in the middle of the sixth wave.

The four-member team, headed by a councillor at the Cabinet Secretariat, will review and give advice on the prefecture’s COVID-19 measures until Friday.

“The team will be in contact with the prime minister’s office and relevant ministries through hotlines,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference Tuesday. “Close cooperation will be established to enable flexible responses.”

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]