TOKYO: The Japanese government is considering excluding trips to Tokyo and Nagoya from its Go To Travel tourism subsidy program temporarily due to a surge in coronavirus cases, informed sources said Sunday.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held talks on the tourism promotion program with ministers including economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who leads the government’s coronavirus response, and health minister Norihisa Tamura.

Suga will convene a meeting of his coronavirus response task force on Monday to discuss the handling of areas hard hit by the virus under the Go To Travel program.

Speaking on television, Nishimura said the government is in talks with local officials on the possibility of a temporary exclusion of trips to Tokyo and Nagoya from the program.

Nishimura held talks with Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike.

Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura said on television that he has been asked by Nishimura to consider excluding Nagoya, the capital of the central Japan prefecture, from the Go To Travel program.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has called on elderly people aged 65 or over and those with underlying health conditions to refrain from using the program for trips to and from the capital until Thursday.

The central government is expected to keep trips to Sapporo and Osaka out of the program for an extended period beyond Tuesday, sources familiar with the matter said.

JIJI Press