Japan easing emergency, Wuhan starts new testing

BANGKOK — Experts on Japan’s coronavirus task force on Thursday approved a government plan to lift a state of emergency in most areas ahead of schedule except for Tokyo and several other high-risk areas.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said after the task force met that the experts approved lifting the emergency in 39 of the country’s 47 prefectures. Emergency measures would remain for eight others, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hokkaido, where risks still remain high.

People wearing face masks to protect against the spread of the new coronavirus keep social distancing as they wait to enter a KFC restaurant in Yokohama near Tokyo, Thursday, May 14, 2020. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had declared the state of emergency on April 7 for Tokyo and six other urban prefectures and later expanded it to the whole country through May 31. With signs of the infections slowing, Abe is seeking to relax the measure while balancing disease prevention and the economy.

Japan now has more than 16,000 confirmed cases, with about 680 deaths. The number of new cases has significantly decreased nationwide.

Abe will explain details at a news conference later Thursday. Experts are also expected to provide the basis for easing the measure, as well as its possible tightening if there is a resurgence.

Ehime prefecture in western Japan, where an outbreak in a hospital has infected about 20 nurses, patients, and their families, will have the state of emergency lifted on the condition containment measures are taken and the infections are closely investigated, Nishimura said.

Experts and officials have urged people to adopt “new lifestyles” and continue practicing physical distancing measures such as remote-working and avoid out-of-town trips even after the state of emergency is lifted.

Meanwhile, some residential compounds in Wuhan have begun testing inhabitants for the coronavirus as a program to test everyone in the Chinese city of 11 million people in 10 days got underway.

One compound in the city’s Qiaokou district said several hundred people had been tested since Wednesday. Another compound in the same district said Thursday it was registering residents before starting.

The city ordered local communities to test everyone after six new cases surfaced last weekend, the first infections there in more than a month.

Wuhan, where the virus was first detected last December, was the hardest-hit city in China with 3,869 reported deaths. China reported three new cases nationwide for 82,929 cases in total.