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On February 12, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 55th 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:

“Today we revised the basic action policy. In 10 prefectures, we are currently requesting the residents to take measures based on the declaration of the state of emergency.

While we are seeing an apparent declining trend in the number of new infections, the availability of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients has remained stretched in many areas. At this stage, we must reduce the number of hospitalized patients and patients with severe symptoms by reducing infections at any cost through implementing ongoing measures, which have started showing an impact.

In this meeting of the Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters today, we decided to conduct intensive testing at elderly care facilities and other institutions, while once again ensuring that dining and drinking establishments shorten their respective business hours as requested by each prefecture. We would like to ask our fellow citizens for your continued cooperation.

In addition, we also decided on additional economic measures to be included in the existing package. Those individuals working in shifts or under other labor arrangements at major corporations will be eligible for the allowance for the leave forced to be taken under the COVID-19 outbreak. This allowance will be effective retrospectively for the forced leave taken before January 7. Regarding the Employment Adjustment Subsidies, we will extend until the end of April the special measures that the Government will fully subsidize. For businesses in a particularly severe situation, we will extend these special measures until the end of June.

With respect to the Support System for Job Seekers, we will expand the eligibility criteria for receiving subsidies while participating in vocational training so that 200,000 people in total can be benefitted from vocational training, together with those who are receiving public vocational training.

Furthermore, today we appointed Minister Sakamoto as the Minister in charge of Loneliness and Isolation, to advance comprehensive measures for those who have been left alone and isolated amidst the prolonged impact of the novel coronavirus. We will advance support measures that are attentive to and address the anxiety present in society.

Under the revised Act on Special Measures for Pandemic Influenza and New Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response that will come into force tomorrow, a set of support measures and administrative penalties will be introduced for matters such as the shortening of business hours of dining and drinking establishments. In this revised act, the priority measures, such as the prevention of an epidemic, are introduced, enabling us to implement effective measures even at the stage that does not require a declaration of a state of emergency.

Regarding the administrative penalties, which are newly introduced, we intend to utilize them as the minimum necessary measure, when business operators or individuals do not respond to the requests of or follow the instructions from the prefectural governors.

Furthermore, with respect to the vaccine, after confirming its efficacy and safety, we will begin vaccinations from the middle of next week. They will commence with the full cooperation of doctors and nurses, as I asked the President of the Japan Medical Association for their cooperation.

The spread of infections is continuing today as well. I ask everyone not to let your guard down and to implement the measures decided today, working as one, in order to further solidify the declining trend of the number of newly confirmed patients.”