Photo/Illutration Shigeru Omi, chairman of the government's panel of experts dealing with the novel coronavirus pandemic, holds a news conference Dec. 11 in which he suggested the Go To Travel program should be temporarily halted. (Tomohiro Yamamoto)

The government's leading health expert called Dec. 11 for the Go To Travel tourism promotion program to be temporarily suspended in areas where COVID-19 cases are rising sharply, but Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga stood firm in refusing to heed such advice.

Shigeru Omi, chairman of a panel of experts dealing with the health crisis, sounded the alarm during a news conference.

“Despite a package of considerably strong measures over the past three weeks, there are still some areas where the number of new cases remains stuck at a high level,” Omi said.

With regard to areas the panel views as at the second highest stage 3 in terms of severity of new infections, Omi said the Go To Travel program aimed at shoring up the hospitality industry should be suspended.

But Suga, speaking on an internet program the same day, said he had no intention at present of suspending the program that he played a major role in developing.

Omi added at his news conference that if the trend of high numbers of new cases continued, the central government would soon have to consider even stronger measures.

At the experts’ panel meeting, the stage 3 areas were further classified into three categories regarding new cases: a declining trend, remaining at a high level and further increasing. The panel agreed to ask the central government to suspend the Go To Travel program for those areas classified in the latter two categories.

With the increase in new COVID-19 cases since November, the panel had recommended a concentrated package of measures over a three-week period in the affected areas.

Yasutoshi Nishimura, the state minister in charge of economic revitalization who also serves as the government’s go-to person in dealing with the health crisis, described the three-week period after Nov. 25 as “decisive” in bringing the novel coronavirus pandemic under control.

He called for a thorough implementation of the fundamental measures undertaken to date, including wearing face masks, washing one’s hands and avoiding the 3-C locations of confined spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings.

Under Nishimura’s definition, the decisive three-week period ends Dec. 16. No signs have emerged to suggest the number of new cases is being restrained. Tokyo reported close to 600 fresh cases on Dec. 11 after a record 602 the previous day.

“The panel believes (the numbers) indicate that perhaps the various measures have not been sufficiently effective,” Omi said at his Dec. 11 news conference.

He also explained that a number of panel members had spoken in strong terms about the lack of coordination between the central and local governments.

Omi urged the central government to do more to support local authorities so they can make swift decisions.

(This article was written by Ayako Nakada and Tomohiro Yamamoto.)

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