Jan 27 (Japan Times) - A growing number of people in the administration of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and Japan's ruling party believe it will be necessary to extend the state of emergency for parts of the country continuing to see a high number of coronavirus cases, sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
The state of emergency, which entails urging the public to refrain from going outside unnecessarily and asking restaurants and bars to shorten their opening hours, could remain in place until the end of February, the sources said. The current end date is Feb. 7.
The government will ask health experts next week whether the number of coronavirus cases in the prefectures in question — Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Tochigi, Aichi, Gifu, Osaka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka — and the strain on the medical system warrant an extension.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, minister in charge of Japan's COVID-19 response, said at a parliamentary committee meeting on Tuesday the government will avoid waiting until the last minute to announce its decision so the prefectures will not be caught off guard.
Suga, meanwhile, admitted Japan's medical system has been ill-prepared to deal with the surge in COVID-19 patients, acknowledging that more lives may have been saved had proper treatment been available.
The rare admission of fault comes as public support for Suga's administration continues to dwindle amid mounting dissatisfaction with his pandemic response.
Asked by opposition lawmaker Kiyomi Tsujimoto in the meeting of the House of Representatives' Budget Committee whether he felt responsible for COVID-19 patients that died at home after being turned away from hospitals, Suga said, "As the one in charge, I feel terribly sorry."
"We have not been able to provide the necessary care, and I recognize that because of this the Japanese people are feeling anxious," Suga said.
