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On January 22, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 53rd 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:

“Two weeks have passed since we issued the declaration of the state of emergency for four prefectures (Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo and Kanagawa). While the daily number of newly confirmed cases nationwide is slightly decreasing, it remains at an extremely high level. We must continue to ensure thorough implementation of measures such as the shortening of business hours of dining and drinking establishments and requesting refraining from going out for non-essential and non-urgent reasons, with a strong sense of urgency.

Today, we submitted to the Diet the bills to amend the Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response and the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients with Infectious Diseases, respectively, in order to implement efficient measures.

Against this backdrop, regarding vaccines, which will serve as the decisive factor as we battle the virus, we recently signed contracts to receive a total supply of 314 million doses of vaccines from three companies.

We will swiftly deliver safe and effective vaccines to the citizens expeditiously. By doing so, we will contain infections as early as possible and restore daily lives in which the citizens can live with peace of mind. To this end, the Government intends to exert every effort, with Minister Kono, who is in charge of overall coordination and communications to the public, and other relevant ministers collaborating with each other.

The Government will cover the necessary expense to receive a vaccination. I ask the local governments to proceed with preparations to enable swift vaccinations.

In addition, we compiled an overview of our economic assistances in response to the recent declaration of the state of emergency. Among them, with regard to the special measures of the Employment Adjustment Subsidies, we will extend the end date of the special measures until next month, when we will lift the declaration of the state of emergency, and provide Housing Security Benefits again in order to support the efforts of those who are in need to secure their housing. We will make use of the support measures compiled today and support businesses and employment.

I ask each minister to continue to thoroughly implement the measures under the declaration of the state of emergency, and exert every effort to protect the lives and livelihoods of the citizens.”