Photo/Illutration Pedestrians in Tokyo’s Ginza district on Jan. 9. 2021, when the capital was under a state of emergency for COVID-19 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Tokyo metropolitan government remains reluctant to tighten restrictions on bars and restaurants to combat the surge in infections of the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus.

Tokyo’s barometers show that the daily average of new infections has already reached a level that requires the government to ask bars and restaurants to shorten their business hours.

However, when asked if such requests will be issued, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said, “I want to listen to experts’ opinions and properly respond.”

One reason behind the metropolitan government’s reluctance is that there are many unknowns about the Omicron variant, including the ratio of infected patients who require hospital treatment.

Officials also cannot predict the percentage of infected elderly people who may develop severe symptoms.

“We cannot respond to the (Omicron variant) using standards that we used for the Delta variant,” a metropolitan government official said. “If we cannot be certain of the characteristics of the Omicron variant, our measures will become ineffective.

“We need to pay close attention to the trend of the number of severe symptom patients and the number of hospital beds occupied.”

As of Jan. 11, 862 infected people were hospitalized in Tokyo, four with severe symptoms. The occupancy rate of secured hospital beds was 12.4 percent.

According to metropolitan officials, the Omicron variant has quickly replaced previous variants, requiring officials to review their established methods to predict health care demand during the pandemic.

Based on the central government’s infection evaluation system, the metropolitan government has established five steps to ask bars and restaurants to comply with its COVID-19 measures.

A Level 2 situation is reached if the daily average of new infection cases over a week reaches 500. At this level, metropolitan officials issue a stronger request to eateries to limit the number of customers.

If the daily average reaches 700, the situation is considered Level 2.5, and metropolitan officials ask businesses to shorten their operating hours.

The average daily number of new infections for the week to Jan. 5 was 135.6 in Tokyo, triple the average of 44.9 for the previous week.

For the week to Jan. 8, the daily average was 502.1, reaching Level 2. On Jan. 10, the average hit 774.6, exceeding the standard for Level 2.5.

For the week to Jan. 11, the daily average reached 890.4.

But the metropolitan government says the situation remains at Level 1 and has not asked the central government to apply pre-emergency measures to the capital.

Koike and the governors of three neighboring prefectures—Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa—urged the central government on Jan. 7 to review its COVID-19 measures, as well as its steps and barometers on tightening restrictions on residents and businesses, based on characteristics of the Omicron variant.

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The Asahi Shimbun

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