May 15, 2021

The Prime Minister Suga-led government on May 14 announced its decision to expand the state of emergency, slated to expire at the end of the month, to the three prefectures of Hokkaido, Okayama, and Hiroshima. Accordingly, the number of prefectures placed under the emergency declaration increased to nine from the current six, including Tokyo and Osaka.

The government originally planned to apply the quasi-state of emergency measures to the three prefectures. However, pushed by the government expert panel calling for tougher measures, the government reversed the original plan and decided to add the three to the state of emergency.

Later in the same day, Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko (House of Councilors) at a press conference in the Diet building pointed out, “The Suga government is always slow to take action, showing that it lacks a sense of urgency regarding the current COVID-19 situation.”

Tamura added, “The government should boost its pace of implementing necessary measures based on in-depth analyses of the actual situation and of problems in the government’s prevention and control measures.”

Past related article:
> States of emergency extended till May 31 [May 8, 2021]