With over 100 new cases recorded for six straight days in Tokyo, it might seem like the bad old days of the pandemic. The rise has some asking when the government will again declare a state of emergency.
But this isn’t April, when businesses shut their doors and workers stayed home, and government officials argue that another emergency declaration isn’t necessary for now.
While some countries have responded to a resurgence of infections with stricter measures — Australia’s second-largest city plunging into lockdown for the second time in four months, and Beijing confining whole neighborhoods to their homes to bring an outbreak under control — Tokyo is taking a more muted approach, arguing that this time is different.