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On March 18, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 58th 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,

“Since the declaration of a state of emergency in January, pinpointed countermeasures, with the shortening of operating hours for dining and drinking establishments at their core, have achieved great results and the number of cases of new infections in the four prefectures has decreased by more than 80 percent.

Even in Chiba Prefecture, where the availability of hospital beds had been under strain for some time, the hospital bed occupancy ratio went under 40 percent, below the 50 percent occupancy rate threshold.

In light of these circumstances, we will lift the declaration of a state of emergency in Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, and Kanagawa Prefectures as of March 21.

However, the numbers of cases of new infections have remained at the same level or are in a slightly upward trend, and there is concern about a rebound occurring.

In conjunction with lifting the declaration, we have decided on comprehensive countermeasures. Comprising five pillars, they will help to prevent a resurgence of infections.

The first pillar is preventing infections while dining and drinking.
The second pillar is strengthening the surveillance structure for coronavirus variants.
The third pillar is implementing strategic testing to discern signs of infections spreading.
The fourth pillar is administering vaccines in a safe and speedy manner.
And the fifth pillar is reinforcing the medical structure in preparation for the next spread of infections.

Based on today’s decision, I ask you to make all-out efforts and work in unity to defend the lives and livelihoods of the Japanese people, making use of our experience of implementing measures in the past year.