TOKYO: Japan’s government will unlikely seek blanket closures of elementary and junior high schools even if a state of emergency over the novel coronavirus is declared again for the Tokyo metropolitan area, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura indicated Monday.

“We are not considering blanket school closures at the moment,” Nishimura, who is in charge of the government’s measures against the coronavirus, said at a press conference.

The government issued an emergency declaration over the virus for Tokyo and some other prefectures on April 7 last year and then expanded it nationwide later that month. At the time, the government asked elementary, junior high and high schools across the country to be closed temporarily. The emergency declaration was lifted in stages in May.

The expected fresh state of emergency is set to cover Tokyo and neighboring Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, where new infection cases have been increasing rapidly.

Ahead of the entrance examination season, the government this time is not considering asking all schools in the four prefectures for temporary closures, partly because young people have a low risk of developing severe symptoms even if they get the coronavirus, sources familiar with the situation said.

The government will basically allow entrance examinations to be held, Nishimura said, referring to the unified university entrance exams from Jan. 16 and exams to be held by respective universities and colleges. While calling for full-fledged measures to prevent infections to be in place at the test venues during the entrance exams, Nishimura suggested that the government aims to prevent the exam schedules from being affected.

The government is set to launch effective countermeasures, planning chiefly to target eating and drinking establishments, where infection risks are believed to be high, according to Nishimura.

The government will work on revising its basic policy on tackling the coronavirus epidemic.

Under last year’s emergency declaration, the government called for reducing interpersonal contact by at least 70 pct, and 80 pct if possible, through asking people to refrain from going out as much as possible, except for visiting medical institutions and buying foodstuffs, for example.

It also sought restraints on events. Based on the central government policy, local governments issued temporary closure requests to a wide range of facilities, including movie theaters, commercial facilities and fitness clubs.

This time, facilities such as movie and other theaters will unlikely be subject to closure requests under the envisaged fresh state of emergency for Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures, a senior government official said.

The state will therefore hold talks about details with local authorities concerned.

The government will also request as many people as possible to work remotely, including from home, in line with the planned revision of its basic policy against the novel coronavirus.

JIJI Press