Japan is staring down another critical week of rising COVID-19 cases, as top government officials deferred Friday a decision to extend or expand temporary restrictions on the nation's Go To Travel campaign before they expire next week.
“Nobody can predict what will happen next week,” said Shigeru Omi, chair of the government’s novel coronavirus subcommittee, during a news conference Friday. “It’s impossible to decide now what needs to be done, since the situation is inevitably going to change.”
The subcommittee put forward three scenarios, in which new cases decrease, plateau or increase, suggesting that officials would need to decide whether to incrementally lift, maintain or strengthen virus countermeasures accordingly. The second and third scenario, Omi said, would warrant the extension or enhancement of measures that discourage travel across prefectures.