Tokyo aims to lift COVID-19 curbs on restaurants as cases fall – media


TOKYO

– The

Tokyo

Metropolitan Government is aiming to ease

COVID



19

restrictions on bars and

restaurants

next week as infections continue to decline, the Jiji news service said on Wednesday.

The easing will be announced as early as Thursday and would apply to businesses that are certified as following anti-infection measures, Jiji reported, citing informed sources.

Representatives for the

Tokyo

government did not im

media

tely respond to a request for comment by Reuters.


Tokyo

and much of Japan

lift

ed

COVID



19

emergency measures on Oct. 1 that had been in place for almost six months. Even so,

restaurants

and bars in the capital have been asked to halt alcohol sales by 8 p.m. and close by 9 p.m.

New daily

cases

in

Tokyo

dropped to 29 on Monday, the lowest since June last year. Infections have

fall

en dramatically from a wave of more than 5,000 a day in August that hammered the capital’s medical infrastructure.

Some 67% of Japan’s population is now fully vaccinated, and the government is planning to roll out booster shots this winter. At the same time,

authorities are planning to use a combination of vaccination certificates

and

COVID



19

tests to further ease

curbs

and reopen the economy. –

Reuters