Society

Half of Japan's eateries for kids unable to reopen amid pandemic

Nov 04 (Japan Times) - Nearly half of kodomo shokudÅ eateries in Japan, which offer free or low-priced meals to children from families in need, have no prospects of restarting services amid the novel coronavirus epidemic, according to a survey.

Many such eateries hesitate to reopen as they are concerned over infection risks, an official said.

The survey was conducted by a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization supporting kodomo shokudÅ and other establishments in late September, covering 342 such eateries across the nation.

According to the survey, 48.0% of all such eateries said they were uncertain about when they can gather children to offer meals, up 9.3 percentage points from the previous survey in June. The rise seems to reflect the resurgence of coronavirus infections in July and August.

As of September, 24.0% of all kodomo shokudÅ were offering meal services, while 6.1% planned to reopen in October.

The largest number of eateries cited difficulty in infection prevention as a problem during operations, with some worried about the implications of infection clusters.

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