“I am seriously reflecting on it.”
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On the evening of the 16th, Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide apologized to the public. He asked the public to refrain from going out, saying that the spread of the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) should be prevented, and he is talking about having a large dinner party twice a night.
Suga apologizes for attending two large-scale dinners on the 14th
“I reflect on… I will do my best to protect the lives of the people”
Significant increase in infected and severely injured persons during’three weeks of game’
Even after the apology conference, 4 people attended a dinner party
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Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is holding a press conference. [로이터=연합뉴스]
– According to Japanese media, after October 23, when the government’s COVID-19 advisory subcommittee proposed “constrain from drinking more than 5 people,” Prime Minister Suga has attended at least 9 times in the evening meeting with more than 5 people. .
In particular, the move on the evening of the 14th, announcing that it will temporarily suspend the’Go To Travel’ campaign, which is a travel incentive, climbed on the cutting board. After the Prime Minister announced that day, it was revealed that he had a dinner with 15 people, including the manager, at a hotel in Tokyo, and then moved to a steakhouse in Ginza and met at least seven people, including Toshihiro Nikai, chief of the Liberal Democratic Party.
As the criticism of’inappropriate behavior’ became intensifying, Prime Minister Suga appeared on Nihon TV on the 16th and said, “When I was trying to greet, I stayed for about 40 minutes and talked about it.”
At a press conference on the same day, “I have kept enough distance from people, but sincerely reflect on the fact that it caused misunderstanding of the people,” he said. “We are taking seriously the situation where there are more than 3,000 infected people (per day). To protect the lives of the people. I will do my best for it,” he apologized.
It was ‘3 weeks of game’, but the result was…
– On the 25th of last month, when the number of confirmed cases surged to 2000, the Japanese government expressed its will to quarantine, saying, “The next three weeks will be an important time to hide the battle against the spread of Corona 19.”
They asked restaurants to shorten their business hours and appealed to the public to refrain from going out. However, looking at the situation until the 16th, three weeks later, the result was’great failure’. The number of confirmed cases has soared, spread to the provinces, and the number of severely ill patients has put the healthcare system in crisis.
According to the Asahi Shimbun on the 17th, the number of new infections nationwide averaged 2072 per day for a week until November 24, the day before the start of the’three weeks of the game’, but increased to an average of 2587 per day for the last three weeks. The number of severely ill patients also increased by 1.8 times from an average of 308 to 570 in the previous week. The death toll in three weeks amounted to 687.
![The'Christmas Market' in Tokyo, Japan on the 16th, is crowded with people. The Japanese government prescribed this day as'three weeks of game' to prevent the spread of corona, but the downtown area was crowded with people. [EPA=연합뉴스]](https://i0.wp.com/pds.joins.com/news/component/htmlphoto_mmdata/202012/17/0f90ca31-ee20-43ed-8052-32504e86a59f.jpg?w=900&ssl=1)
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The’Christmas Market’ in Tokyo, Japan on the 16th, is crowded with people. The Japanese government prescribed this day as’three weeks of game’ to prevent the spread of corona, but the downtown area was crowded with people. [EPA=연합뉴스]
– The Yomiuri Shimbun reported that this increase was even greater in local areas, and that the number of confirmed cases in Fukuoka Prefecture increased by 3.27 times during the same period and by 9.98 times in Hiroshima Prefecture. This figure shows the possibility that the’trip’ from the metropolitan area to the provinces may have contributed to the spread of infection.
On the 16th, “Unfortunately, there was no trend to decrease the number of confirmed patients,” said Yastoshi Nishimura, who declared “three weeks of the game,” and admitted that the government response was ineffective.
Even on the day of apology
– Even on the 16th, when Prime Minister Suga apologized for the dinner problem, it was revealed that he had dinner at two restaurants. According to the “Prime Minister’s Sympathy,” published in the Asahi Shimbun, after an apology press conference, I met a bank executive at a Japanese restaurant in a city hotel at 6:43 pm, and at 7:37 am moved to a French restaurant to meet with three media officials.
Both were meetings with no more than 5 attendees, but controversy is expected as a very different move from the remarks that “we are taking the situation seriously.” Even at the apology conference, Prime Minister Suga did not say that he would cancel or refrain from drinking in the future, Japanese media reported.
In an answer to the National Assembly on that day, the Minister in charge of economic regeneration said, “There is no uniformly set’no more than five people’,” as if wrapping up the actions of the Prime Minister.
Tokyo = Correspondent Lee Young-hee [email protected]
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