Japan Easing Domestic Travel Restrictions

Above, morning in Asakusa, Tokyo. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It appears that things are improving enough in Japan for the government to lift the state of emergency over the coronavirus.

The Mainichi reported:

TOKYO -- The Japanese government is looking into relaxing restrictions on the movement of people between prefectures along with the lifting of the state of emergency declaration over the novel coronavirus.

However, the government will continue to call on people to refrain from visiting prefectures that are designated as requiring special precautionary measures. Even after taking some prefectures off the state of emergency list, the government will continue to request that organizers refrain from holding large-scale events and other gatherings to prevent the spread of the virus. 

The government is poised to include these measures in a basic response policy to be revised on May 14. 

In lifting the state of emergency, the government plans to make the decision by looking at factors including the number of newly infected people during the most recent week or two, and the ratio of those whose route of infection remains unclear, as well as the availability of intensive care units and ventilators for treating severe cases and the implementation status of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing.

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