‘Go To’ to be suspended for entire nation from Dec. 28

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Monday that the gove rnment h a s decided to suspend its Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign for all travel across the nation from Dec. 28 to Jan. 11, due to the recent surge in infections with the novel coronavirus.

Regarding travel to Tokyo and Nagoya, where the number of infections has been climbing, the government also decided at a meeting of its coronavirus task force to exclude those cities from the campaign even before the nationwide suspension begins.

On Sunday, Suga held talks with Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura, among others, at the Prime Minister’s Office. In response to the surge in infections, they are believed to have discussed such matters as how to review travel and ask restaurants to shorten their business hours.

Regarding travel to and from Tokyo, the government had stopped short of suspending the Go To Travel campaign for the capital, only requesting restraint from people age 65 or older and from people with diabetes and other preexisting conditions, who are likely to develop severe symptoms if they contract the virus.

However, the virus has continued to spread, with the number of newly confirmed infections reaching a record-high 621 in Tokyo on Saturday. The Tokyo metropolitan government has called on the central government to take action, as it wants to extend the period of voluntary restraint to Jan. 11 from the initial ending date of Dec. 17, and expand the request for restraint to all age groups.

The metropolitan government also intends to extend its request for eating and drinking establishments and other types of eateries in Tokyo to shorten their business hours to Jan. 11 from Dec. 17.

The metropolitan government has asked eating and drinking establishments and karaoke bars serving alcohol in Tokyo’s 23 wards and in the Tama area to close by 10 p.m. It is working out the details of additional financial aid for businesses that comply with the request.

Regarding the exclusion of travel to Nagoya from the Go To Travel campaign, Aichi Gov. Hideaki Omura said at a press conference on Monday morning, “We’ve reached the stage at which we must ask for [the exclusion].”

On Friday, the government task force’s subcommittee on the coronavirus proposed that both the tourism promotion campaign and the Go To Eat program, which is intended to support the restaurant industry, continue to be suspended in areas where the infection status is at Stage 3 among the four- level criteria. The subcommittee said the suspension should continue until an area’s status is lowered to Stage 2.

Subcommittee chair Shigeru

Omi said Sapporo, Tokyo’s 23 wards and Osaka are among the cities at Stage 3. (Published in print on Dec. 15)