According to the latest news from the Japan Broadcasting Association (NHK), Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiro Kan said at a press conference on the evening of January 7:
“The areas that took measures to shorten business hours earlier have achieved prevention and control results and controlled the number of new cases.
At present, the focus area of the pandemic is Tokyo and the surrounding three counties.
In the past two weeks, the number of newly confirmed cases in Tokyo and the surrounding three counties accounts for about half of the national average, and the number is higher from the New Year’s holiday to today.
Today, more than 2,400 new confirmed cases in Tokyo alone are serious.
I am deeply concerned about this.”