In other news, Japan’s prolonged emergency state was recently announced to be reassessed on 14 May by an expert and the month will work to ‘aim for an exit’.[1] This was likely in response to local politicians who spoke out that there is a need for an exit strategy, particularly in providing guidance for local businesses and thus proposing the ‘Osaka Model’.[2] Osaka Governor Yoshimura Hirofumi proposed a multi-pronged exit strategy, based upon three criteria being fulfilled for seven days in order to relax the stay-home policy: new cases of unknown transmission under 10/day; positive testing results staying under 7%; hospital bed occupancy under 60%.
Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced today (10 May) the relaxation of restrictions on exercise, from once/day to no limit.[3] My personal opinion is that this was also intended to increase exposure to the sun for Vitamin D. As exit strategies are initiated or being considered in other countries, it’s interesting to reflect on which parts of emergency disease response are meant for the entire nation to be decided by the Central Government and which areas local governments need to take responsibility for. It is key to note that Expo 2025 will be held in Osaka and this may have been an effort to assert an ‘Osaka’ position vis a vis Tokyo and the rest of Japan. There have been a lot of cross-national comparison but I wonder what the dynamics of other major cities vs national policy are?
In other news, the Pathogen Genomics Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases has released a paper on 27 April confirming via genetic information testing in that the first wave in January/February came from Wuhan, China. The Institute assessed that the Diamond Princess Cruise Ship landing in Yokohama from Hong Kong was relatively contained.[4] However, the second wave from mid-March to present was from Europe, and the delayed containment strategy in this instance caused much concern in the Japanese public and critique of the Prime Minister.[5] This analysis uses various data imaging and processing technologies, such as GISAID (Global Initiative on Sharing Avian Flu Data) hosted by the German government and launched in 2006.
[1] ANNnewsCh, 「“解除の条件”は？『ニ兎追う』日本モデルの正念場」(20/05/04) (4 May 2020). <https://youtu.be/8iSwiEKwpkg>. [2] ANNnewsCh, 「独自基準で経済再会へ 大阪府・吉村洋文知事に聞く（20/05/04）」(4 May 2020). <https://youtu.be/4PR_8FB9q8Y> . [3] Indigo Stanford, ‘Coronavirus in Edinburgh: Nicola Sturgeon changes rules to how much you can exercise in Scotland’, Edinburgh Live (10 May 2020). <https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/coronavirus-edinburgh-nicola-sturgeon-changes-18228970> [4] Kenji Mizumoto, Katushi Kagaya, Alexander Zarebski, Gerardo Chowell, ‘Estimating the asymptomatic proportion of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship, Yokohama, Japan 2020’, Eurosurveillance, 25, 10 (12 March 2020). <https://www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2020.25.10.2000180> [5] News from Japanese living abroad in New York, such as physician Mai Corbin, which emphasised decline in public order and potential for healthcare collapse spiked concerns amongst the Japanese public. TBS NEWS, 「NY日本人医師語る③日本へのメッセージ」 31 May 2020. <https://youtu.be/3zUKVcYtODk>.