Covid-19: Japan declares state of emergency as Tokyo cases soar

On 9 April Japan had a total of 5002 official cases (excluding 712 cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship), 116 deaths, and 1270 recovered (including on the Diamond Princess), according to public broadcaster NHK.1 On 7 April, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency until 6 May in Tokyo and the neighbouring Chiba, Saitama, and Kanagawa prefectures, Hyogo, and the industry and business hubs of Osaka and Fukouka. Critics have pointed to the unusually low amount of testing in Japan—using just over half its capacity of 7500 tests a day—as well as a response that has seemingly only ramped up since the Tokyo 2020 Olympics were postponed. Abe has said that Japan will seek to increase testing capacity to 20 000 tests per day.3 People with mild symptoms are also now allowed to stay at home or in a designated hotel, rather than automatically being admitted to hospital, as is normal practice, with public health officials fearing it would overwhelm the system.