Photo/Illutration Prime Minister Fumio Kishida leaves the office of prime minister after taking questions from reporters on July 29. (Koichi Ueda)

Prefectural governments will be given a free rein to impose stronger COVID-19 measures tailored to their individual needs to prevent the spread of the BA.5 Omicron subvariant.

The policy initiative was announced during a July 29 news conference by Daishiro Yamagiwa, the minister in charge of the government’s COVID-19 handling of the pandemic, in response to a request made the day before by the National Governors’ Association.

It will allow governors to declare that their prefectures need to take steps to counter the BA.5 subvariant when, for example, the occupancy rate of local hospitals exceeds 50 percent and puts health care systems under severe strain.

Miyagi prefectural government on July 30 decided to issue its declaration as early as next week after discussing details with the central government.

This will automatically lead to the central government deciding that the region in question is in immediate need of assistance, which will take the form of dispatching experts to advise the local government on steps to take.

But unlike pre-emergency curbs, the declaration does not restrict people’s movements and activities, such as requesting eateries to close early and punishing them if they do not comply.

The declaration only asks residents and business operators to cooperate.

For instance, a local government will ask residents with only mild or no COVID-19 symptoms to refrain from going to a clinic and instead take a do-it-yourself test at home.

Officials will also ask schools and facilities for elderly to strengthen anti-infection measures.

Business operators will be asked to implement teleworking steps as much as they can.

To prevent health care services from becoming overburdened, local governments in such situations will ask companies not to request employees submit a certificate of a COVID-19 test issued by a health care organization when they are recuperating.

The central government said the new declaration system will make it easy for governors to strengthen anti-infection measures without resorting to pre-emergency measures.

Effectively, though, there is nothing new to the initiative.

The central government has emphasized there is no need to impose limits on people’s activities.

This has led some in the Kishida administration to question the relatively relaxed approach when Japan is in the grip of a seventh wave of the pandemic and record cases are being set daily across the nation.

“We needed to tell people that implementing anti-infection measures thoroughly is absolutely necessary,” said a source close to the office of the prime minister.

Related News