Tokyo registers more than 3,000 Covid-19 cases for fifth day running

TOKYO (DPA), 1 AUG, 2021 - Olympic host city Tokyo has recorded more than 3,000 new coronavirus infections for the fifth day running. The city registered 3,058 new infections within 24 hours on Sunday, after a peak of 4,058 cases recorded the day before. Numbers are usually lower on Sunday because there is less testing.

The governors of Tokyo as well as other affected prefectures want to ask the government to consider tougher measures such as curfews. Japan has not yet imposed a lockdown as other countries have done.

Instead, Tokyo and other prefectures are subject to a state of emergency until August 31, which only provides for loose measures.

Critics point out that the previous appeals by the state are no longer effective. Society must once again “develop a shared sense of crisis” to prevent a collapse of the health system, demanded Omi Shigeru, the government’s top coronavirus adviser.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike called on citizens to stay at home despite the summer holidays.