Hokkaido reports 200 new coronavirus cases for first time

Nov 10, 2020 | News On Japan

Nov 10, 2020 (Japan Times) - Hokkaido confirmed 200 new cases of the novel coronavirus Monday, prefectural government officials said, hitting the 200 threshold for the first time amid a worrying surge in cases in some areas of the country.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has warned of signs of a resurgent spread of the coronavirus in Japan as colder weather drives more people indoors.

While urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka have continued to see high numbers, there have also been clusters of infections in Hokkaido and northeastern parts of Honshu. Experts say this could be due to more people spending time in poorly ventilated rooms as temperatures drop.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato on Monday hinted at the possibility of the government excluding Hokkaido from its Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the prefecture.

An expert panel on the coronavirus crisis has proposed that the government consider withdrawing the tourism industry support scheme from prefectures in which the epidemic reaches Stage 3, the second-worst level of the panelâ€™s four-stage evaluation system on the spread of the virus, Kato told a news conference.

â€œThe government wants to respond on the basis of the proposal,â€ he said. Prefectures with a rapid increase in infections are considered to be in Stage 3.

The Go To Travel campaign, which began in late July, initially excluded trips to and from Tokyo due to a surge in infection cases in the capital. Tokyo was added to the program at the start of October.

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