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Japan regrets the premature easing of special measures. Due to pressure from business owners they lifted the state of emergency, and it has badly backfired on them. The island of Hokkaido was hit by a second wave of the epidemic, and it is much worse than the first. The island therefore had to reintroduce strict measures.
The Japanese island could be a warning to other countries that plan to end the state of emergency soon.
The Japanese island of Hokkaido became a warning example for the world, where the government decided to prematurely end the state of emergency. Immediately after the lifting of restrictions the island was hit by a second wave of the epidemic, which is much more serious than the first. The island initially reacted very promptly to the coronavirus epidemic and the state of emergency was declared by local governor Naomichi Suzuki already at the end of February.
However, huge pressure was exerted on the government by business owners, and so the state of emergency was lifted already on March 18. The decision was hasty and the island was immediately hit by another wave of the coronavirus. The governor therefore declared a state of emergency again 26 days after the easing of the measures.
„Now I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have ended the first state of emergency,“ said Dr. Kiyoshi Nagase, who assists the government with epidemic matters.
Experts also say that the state of emergency was lifted too early. People immediately poured into the streets after the easing of measures to celebrate freedom.
That is apparently the reason why the country was hit by another wave of the coronavirus epidemic.
