Okinawa could declare emergency Covid measures as virus spreads from US base

Japan’s authorities is poised to declare a quasi-state of emergency on the southern island of Okinawa, media studies stated, after a Covid-19 outbreak traced to US army bases unfold to the civilian inhabitants.

The prime minister, Fumio Kishida, may announce the measures this week, the Mainichi newspaper stated, after Okinawa officers reported 225 new circumstances on Tuesday, together with 47 of the Omicron pressure. Tokyo, by comparability, registered 151 new infections.

The Okinawa figures don’t embody 164 new infections found at US bases on the island, bringing the overall of American army infections within the newest outbreak to greater than 1,000.

The governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, has publicly criticised US forces for failing to comprise an outbreak at a base final month that shortly unfold to different army services on the island. The primary Omicron case amongst civilians has been traced to a neighborhood man who’s employed at a US base.

The emergency measures, which may embody limits on bar and restaurant opening hours, can be the primary of their form in Japan since late September, when the federal government lifted emergency restrictions that had been in place in components of the nation for a lot of the yr.

Whereas circumstances in Japan are low in contrast with these within the US, Britain and components of Europe, the quantity have crept up in latest days as proof emerged of neighborhood transmission of the Omicron variant.

Japan reported 1,268 new infections on Tuesday, the primary time for 3 months that the nation of 125 million folks has had greater than 1,000 circumstances a day.

Tamaki informed reporters that the island, which hosts greater than half of the 47,000 US troops primarily based in Japan, had entered a “sixth wave” of infections. The 225 virus circumstances reported on Tuesday have been Okinawa’s highest in additional than three months, Tamaki stated, including that infections at native US bases continued to rise.

The Mainichi stated Tamaki had informed the chief cupboard secretary, Hirokazu Matsuno, that he was contemplating asking the central authorities to name a quasi-state of emergency.