TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Monday the government had agreed with members of a new expert panel to ease restrictions on holding events from July 10.
“We agreed that the situation is different from April, when the government issued a state of emergency,” Nishimura said.
The relaxation comes despite Tokyo confirming 102 new coronavirus infections on Monday, according to public broadcaster NHK, the fifth straight day that the tally of fresh cases has exceeded 100.
Recorded cases in Tokyo have risen recently, driven by the spread of the virus in the capital’s night spots and increased testing among nightlife workers, said Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.
Koike, who won re-election in a landslide a day earlier, said she would fulfil her campaign promise of swiftly setting up a “Tokyo-style CDC”, referring to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The role of the new organisation would include collecting advice from infectious diseases experts, improving the efficacy of testing and advising people on prevention measures, she said.
(Reporting by Hiroko Hamada and Sakura Murakami; Writing by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Alex Richardson)
