Photo/Illutration Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura urges residents in the prefecture to refrain from traveling to Tokyo unless it is essential. He made the call at a July 16 news conference. (Katsumoto Horikawa)

Local authorities expressed alarm at a spike in novel coronavirus cases in their prefectures after residents visited the Tokyo metropolitan area, Osaka and other major cities and tested positive.

The central government withdrew its request for people not to travel between prefectures nationwide on June 19.

Of 43 prefectures excluding the Tokyo metropolitan area, the capital and neighboring Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa prefectures, at least 27 prefectures have reported a surge in COVID-19 patients who were believed to have been infected during trips to Tokyo.

Similarly, cases of new infections thought to have stemmed from visits to Osaka Prefecture were reported in 13 prefectures.

In both cases, the number jumped in July.

An Asahi Shimbun study showed that at least 104 people tested positive between June 19 and July 16 after traveling to Tokyo or after they were exposed to such travelers in the 27 prefectures.

In comparison, the figure came to eight in five prefectures between June 19 and June 30.

Between July 1 and July 16, however, 96 new cases were reported in 26 prefectures.

Of that number, 16 people were found to have been infected with the virus in six prefectures outside the Tokyo metropolitan area.

The cases include those who traveled to see a performance at a theater in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward, where an outbreak occurred, those who patronized host clubs in the capital as well as family members and colleagues of such visitors back home.

By prefecture, Aichi reported the most infections, at 21, followed by Ibaraki, at 13.

Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura conveyed alarm over the rise in his prefecture at a news conference on July 16.

“The bulk of cases are linked to Tokyo and other prefectures,” he said. “It is a huge concern.”

The number of infections as a result of a visit to the theater or exposure to the theatergoers came to nine in Aichi Prefecture.

The organizer of the performance announced July 15 that 34 members of the audience were infected.

Of them, a nursery school teacher in her 20s in Gunma Prefecture transmitted the virus to two colleagues. The University of Shimane in Shimane Prefecture banned entry to campus after a female student’s infection was confirmed after she went to the theater.

In Fukui Prefecture, no new cases had been confirmed since the end of April until a man in his 30s tested positive in mid-July after returning from a business trip to Tokyo. His family’s infection was also confirmed.

In Fukushima Prefecture, the infection of a man in his 40s was confirmed after he met with a colleague visiting from Tokyo over dinner on June 28. He underwent a test after the colleague tested positive.

In Aomori Prefecture, a doctor in his 60s and his wife were confirmed to be patients early this month after meeting with their daughter’s family in Yokohama and son’s family Tokyo.

In western Japan, 44 new cases were registered including Nara, Hyogo and Kyoto prefectures after residents visited Osaka Prefecture.

Of 46 new cases registered in Nara Prefecture over July 4-16, 17 were believed to have become infected during trips or work in Osaka Prefecture.

Shizuoka Governor Heita Kawakatsu was blunt about asking Tokyo residents not to come to his prefecture.

“I would like Tokyo residents to refrain from visiting Shizuoka Prefecture until a therapy and vaccine are available” to treat COVID-19 patients, he said at a news conference on July 14.

An absence of tourists from major urban areas means that the local travel industry will continue to be hard hit from the fallout from the outbreaks.

Tomikazu Fukuda, governor of Tochigi Prefecture, said he is in a dilemma over what to do about travel between his prefecture and the Tokyo metropolitan area.

“Sightseeing areas are still suffering heavily,” he said. “What would happen if a stream of tourists ended now? I cannot ask people outside the prefecture not to come nor people in the prefecture not to leave the prefecture.”

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