Japan Said To Be In "Fourth Wave"

Above, Osaka's Dōtonbori section. Osaka is a hotspot for coronavirus cases. Photo by Armand Vaquer.

It appears that there will be no foreign vacation travel to Japan in the foreseeable future. 

Japanese government officials say that the country has entered "the fourth wave" of the coronavirus. This is not surprising since I read that only 1% of the Japanese people have been vaccinated. 

This is not good news since the Tokyo Olympic games are due to start in about 100 days.

According to Japan Today:

TOKYO - Osaka Prefecture on Wednesday reported a record 1,130 daily coronavirus cases, bringing the nationwide tally to the highest in over two months, as the country grapples with what medical experts describe as a "fourth wave" of the pandemic.

Osaka saw another record of infections after topping the 1,000 mark for the first time Tuesday, prompting Gov Hirofumi Yoshimura to say the western Japan prefecture could ask the central government to issue a state of emergency again.

"I have a strong sense of crisis," Yoshimura told a press conference, adding a "request for large-scale business suspensions would be necessary" if effects of the current measures under the quasi-state of emergency are proven unproductive next week.

The Osaka governor said his government is considering requesting schools to switch to online lectures and suspend student club activities as part of efforts to curb the infections.

The nationwide tally topped 4,300 new cases, the highest since Jan. 23, with Hyogo Prefecture adjacent to Osaka also confirming a record 507 cases, as highly contagious variants are spreading around Osaka with Tokyo also seeing them rising.

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