Some, but not all, Tokyo restaurants close early when the virus is on the rise

Tokyo on Saturday kicked off a 20-day period during which the metropolitan government asked restaurants serving alcohol and karaoke venues to shorten their working hours to help combat a recent resurgence of coronavirus infections.

The request comes two months after a similar call was lifted and as the country recorded a daily figure of 2,684 new coronavirus cases and 440 cases of those with severe symptoms on the same day, both at record highs, raising further concerns about the severity of the virus. virus.

The move is a major blow to traders hoping for increased demand during the year-end holiday season and could derail the nascent Japanese economic recovery.

The Metropolitan Government will provide financial support of ¥ 400,000 to each company complying with the closure request by 10pm until December 17. But many are undecided or will refuse to do so.

“Our sales had just started to recover. I can understand why the request was made, but it’s hard to meet it during the busiest season of the year,” Jun Sagae said. izakaya (pub) manager in Shimbashi, a popular dining room for office workers. The pub had followed two similar requests made earlier.

Junichi Kawaguchi, who runs a restaurant in the Akasaka district, said that while he will close the store at 10pm on weekdays, an hour earlier than usual, he wonders if simply shortening working hours would actually have an effect on prevention of the spread of the virus.

An izakaya near the busy transport hub at Ueno station said Saturday he will fulfill the request. “The number of customers has started to decline again due to the resurgence of infections,” said one of his employees, adding, “The support of ¥ 400,000 is not enough. We hope the infections will calm down soon.”

The capital is registering a record daily number of new infections, which in recent days have exceeded 500. For the first time since the beginning of September, the metropolitan government has raised the virus alert to the maximum of four levels.

The number of people who have developed severe symptoms of COVID-19 hit a record 440, the health ministry said Saturday, with the figure doubling in nearly half a month.

The corresponding number for Tokyo has reached 67, the highest level since the declared state of emergency for the pandemic was lifted in late May. The rise in people with severe symptoms prompted Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike to urge older people, in particular, to refrain from going out.

Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said the task of reducing the number of patients with severe symptoms is not an easy one.

“Once the number of those with severe symptoms increases, treatment for them will take longer and this would require the involvement of more healthcare professionals,” Wakita said.

On Saturday, Aichi Hiroshige Mikamo Medical University professor told a coronavirus forum that infections have “spread to all ages for the third wave” of the virus and that cases are rising again among older people.