Photo/Illutration The Wakayama prefectural government’s task force meeting on COVID-19 is held on Feb. 2. (Takahiro Takizawa)

WAKAYAMA--The central government as early as Feb. 3 plans to accept the Wakayama prefectural government’s first-ever request for pre-emergency measures to halt the soaring number of new COVID-19 cases.

The Wakayama prefectural government held a task force meeting on Feb. 2 and decided to ask for pre-emergency measures, which will cover the entire prefecture in the Kansai region.

Restaurants will be asked to close earlier regardless of whether they serve alcoholic beverages. Businesses that cooperate with the anti-virus guidelines will be given financial assistance.

The prefectural government had adopted the “Wakayama method” of fighting the virus, including allowing all COVID-19 patients with or without symptoms to stay in hospitals.

But after mid-January, that hospitalization policy was difficult to implement.

As of Feb. 1, 2,885 patients were recuperating at homes or hotels in the prefecture.

The Wakayama prefectural government was also concerned about a possible influx of people from neighboring Osaka Prefecture, which has already asked bars and restaurants to shorten their business hours under pre-emergency measures.

“We are doing our best with our public services to deal with the health and medical issues, but we still couldn’t stop (the spread of the virus). That’s why we urgently made the request to the central government,” Wakayama Governor Yoshinobu Nisaka said. 

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