Photo/Illutration Go To Eat meal vouchers in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward on Nov. 20 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Additional Go To Eat meal coupons that will go on sale starting in mid-March will come with a lower premium discount rate, according to new program details announced on Dec. 14.

The ones currently available offer savings of up to 25 percent on meals, but the agriculture ministry plans to scale back the discount to 20 percent as it extends the length of the subsidy program.

The number of vouchers a customer can purchase will also be reduced. Currently, a customer can buy up to 20,000 yen ($192) in vouchers, but that will drop to 10,000 yen. The ministry will use a lottery system for sales.

The ministry will include 51.5 billion yen in the third supplementary budget proposal for this fiscal year to cover the addition to the Go To Eat subsidy program, which is aimed at boosting the struggling restaurant industry amid the pandemic.

Alongside the extension for the central government’s Go To Travel campaign, the new Go To Eat vouchers will expire at the end of June.

But sales of Go To Eat vouchers have been halted in Tokyo and at least 12 prefectures including Osaka due to the recent surge in novel coronavirus cases.

The ministry said it will be up to local governments to decide when sales will resume--or if at all.

The ministry said the currently available Go To Eat vouchers will continue to be sold until the end of February instead of January, the original ending date.

The vouchers will expire at the end of March.

But the ministry said the program can be extended until the end of June, if local governments allow it.

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