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On July 22, 2020, the Prime Minister held the 41st meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters at the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
At the meeting, the participants discussed the response to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
 
Following the discussion, the Prime Minister said,
 
“Regarding the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we are currently in a situation where we need to maintain sufficient vigilance against the spread of infections, as the experts have analyzed and assessed. However, in light of the progress in enhancing screening structures and preparing medical treatment structures, and the fact that the majority of new cases of infection is among young people with few patients with severe symptoms, among other factors, the situation is significantly different from what we saw under the state of emergency in April.
 
The number of new cases is recently growing, primarily in Tokyo. While the government has set the maximum number of people attending a large-scale event at 5,000, we intend to uphold this until the end of August and make a decision based on the epidemiological situation over the course of this period.
 
It is most important that we certainly implement effective preventive measures and restore socio-economic activities in a phased approach in the ‘with-corona’ age.
 
To that end, collaborating with prefectural governments, we will further enhance screening structures and thoroughly ensure that business operators adhere to the Industry-specific Guidelines.
 
Meanwhile, we also must prevent the spread of infections among people at high risk of developing severe symptoms, such as the elderly and persons with underlying conditions, by any means possible.
 
The government will advance a specific review such that we can conduct screenings swiftly when the risk of infections is deemed high at sites such as medical institutions and care facilities for the elderly and make onsite screenings available at those care facilities.
 
As a four-day public holiday will begin tomorrow, we ask people to make every effort to avoid the three Cs (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings), refrain from activities that involve raising their voices, and take full preventive measures such as wearing face masks, hand-washing, sanitization, and ventilation.
 
With regard to border controls, amidst the global spread of infections, particularly in South American countries, we will exert every possible effort to prevent infections from spreading from overseas, including extending the duration of existing border controls to the end of August, and making additions to the areas from which we will deny entry.
 
At the same time, we also need to resume international movement of people step by step in a manner consistent with the aforementioned measures.
 
We have first decided to gradually admit the re-entry of foreign nationals who departed Japan with re-entry permits. From the perspective of preventing the spread of infections, we intend to implement additional measures, such as requesting a certification of PCR screening conducted in the country of residence or elsewhere.
 
Furthermore, we will advance consultations and coordination with 12 countries and regions in East and Southeast Asia, where the level of infections is stable, towards resuming the movement of people, such as those necessary for businesses.
 
For those countries and regions which are not the focus of the consultations and coordination, taking into consideration needs such as those on businesses, we will introduce a framework to enable the movement of people limited to small numbers and short stays, after setting quarantine requirements.
 
Looking ahead to the Olympic and Paralympic Games next year, we will also consider measures on the entry of athletes, officials, and others to Japan.
 
In order to accommodate such kinds of international movement of people and prevention of the spread of infections at the same time, it is essential to strengthen our screening capabilities and structures. I ask the relevant ministries and agencies, in particular, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare, to work together and urgently advance relevant measures such as the introduction of alternative screening methods and opening of screening centers.
 
I also ask you to continue your utmost efforts to implement these measures, while working together with business operators and local governments, so as to control the spread of infections as much as possible and promote socio-economic activities.”