Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga walks toward the podium ahead of a news conference at the prime minister’s office on July 8 (Pool)

A feared resurgence in fresh novel coronavirus cases forced the government on July 8 to decide to reinstate a state of emergency for Tokyo.

The decision came only three weeks after the government lifted emergency curbs for the capital, replacing them with less stringent “man-en boshi” steps.

The latest state of emergency will be the third this year for Tokyo and the fourth since the pandemic flared early last year.

A marked decline in the number of elderly cases due to vaccinations has meant that hospitals are not running out of beds for COVID-19 patients. Not yet at least.

Still, hospitalizations are rising again, with middle-aged patients now making up the bulk of serious cases, apparently due to the low ratio of those vaccinated in that age group.

The highly infectious virus variant known as Delta, first detected in India, is now sweeping the nation and fast replacing the original virus and other variants.

The current situation requires the government to ratchet up policy efforts to curb the resurgence before the health care system is overwhelmed.

When Tokyo was hit by a previous wave of infections, the capital managed to avoid the kind of crisis that struck the Kansai region around Osaka by swiftly switching to a state of emergency from the man-en boshi program.

But there is no guarantee the same will happen again.

The latest state of emergency will run from July 12 until Aug. 22, longer than the previous ones when they were originally introduced.

The government decided on the 42-day period to cover occasions when people are expected to travel widely: four consecutive national holidays in late July, the summer break and Bon, the annual festival to honor the spirits of ancestors in mid-August.

Obviously, the effectiveness of the measure will be undermined by the government's decision to forge ahead with the Tokyo Olympics, overriding concerns shared by many members of the public.

The government’s requests for bars and restaurants to limit their business operations and the public to restrict their activities will likely be met with much cynicism.

Under the state of emergency, bars and restaurants will be banned from serving alcohol again, a restriction reintroduced after being suspended under the man-en boshi measures. They will be also asked to close at 8 p.m.

In response to complaints among such business establishments that promised relief money from the government has been slow in coming, the Suga administration decided to adopt a system of handing out cash payments in advance.

But some of these businesses, battered by half a year of restrictions, may be less willing to play ball than they were under previous states of emergency.

The fourth state of emergency for Tokyo will force people, many of whom are weary of voluntary restrictions, to continue putting up with all sorts of inconveniences in their daily lives for more than a month.

While a wide range of events, such as school field days and community festivals, have been canceled, many Japanese are feeling that the Summer Games are being given “special treatment.”

Doubts and indignation aroused by this perception could affect people’s efforts to prevent infections.

The panel of experts advising the government on responses to the pandemic recently recommended that the Olympics be held without spectators.

They pointed out that allowing spectators could send out the wrong message: that measures to prevent infections can now be eased. But holding the Olympics, with or without spectators, entails just such a risk.

At a July 8 news conference, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga asserted that progress in the vaccination program is now raising prospects of a new, less challenging phase in the battle against the virus.

He even mentioned the possibility of lifting the latest state of emergency ahead of schedule.

But he appears to be entertaining unwarranted optimism. What will he do if the state of emergency fails to rein in the resurgence?

As the nation’s top political leader, Suga needs to prepare for a worst-case scenario.

--The Asahi Shimbun, July 9

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