Japan is lifting a state of emergency in three Japanese prefectures including Osaka, its third most-populated city, as the number of new Covid-19 cases in the country has significantly fallen, speeding up the recovery of domestic economies.
An expert advisory panel today endorsed the government's decision to lift the state of emergency in the neighbouring prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo and Kyoto in western Japan. This adds to 39 other prefectures where restrictions have been removed.
The Covid-19 infections in these three prefectures have been contained to meet government criteria, such as fewer than 0.5 new cases per 100,000 people in the preceding seven days and comfortable levels of medical availability and testing capabilities.
The decision is expected to be put into effect later today.
But the government has decided to continue imposing emergency measures in Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, as well as in northern Japan's Hokkaido. The spread of the virus has not slowed enough for restrictions to be eased, particularly in Tokyo, Kanagawa and Hokkaido.
Economy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is in charge of the country's Covid-19 response, said the government will examine next week whether the emergency measures can be lifted in Tokyo and Hokkaido on 31 May as originally scheduled. The review is set to take place on or around 28 May.
Japan had 16,212 new Covid-19 cases as of midnight yesterday. The pace of new cases has slowed significantly, to 358 last week from 598 in the week of 6-12 May.
The state of emergency gives the governor of each prefecture the authority to impose restrictions to combat the pandemic. But a number of prefectural governments, including those that are still under the state of emergency, have begun easing restrictions over the past week to provide some relief to domestic businesses hard hit by the outbreak.
But the government continues to urge people not to travel in and out of their respective areas unless necessary, capping domestic use of gasoline and jet fuel.
"Whether gasoline and jet fuel demand will return to pre-Covid-19 levels is a critical issue for us," said Tsutomu Sugimori, president of JXTG, the parent company of Japan's biggest oil refiner JXTG Nippon Oil and Energy.
Processing rates at Japanese refineries dropped to a seven-year low of 61.5pc in the week to 16 May, as Covid-19 travel restrictions continue to impact domestic fuel demand.
The country's gasoline and jet fuel demand plummeted even before the state of emergency took full effect in April. Domestic sales of gasoline declined by 8pc on the year to 764,000 b/d in March, while sales of jet fuel tumbled by 21pc to 91,000 b/d, according to government data.
Japan's economy, the world's third largest, is expected to face possibly the worst contraction since World War 2 in the April-June quarter, after entering a recession in January-March.
Manufacturing activity is not showing signs of recovering, with the country's industry leaders such as carmaker Toyota Motor and steelmaker Nippon Steel extending domestic output cuts into the July-September quarter.
