• 
• 
• 
• 

On June 17, 2021, the Prime Minister held the 69th 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,
 
 “Nationally, the number of new infections has continued to decline since mid-May. The number of patients with severe symptoms also continues to decline nationwide, and hospital bed capacity has been improving without a doubt. That said, in some areas we are seeing the number of new infections failing to fall any further, and it has been pointed out that there is a possibility of a rebound of infections.
 
In light of these circumstances, it was decided that as of June 20, we will lift the declaration of a state of emergency in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Okayama, Hiroshima, and Fukuoka Prefectures, while in Okinawa Prefecture we will extend until July 11 the period the declaration is in effect. We also decided that priority measures to prevent the spread of disease will newly come into effect until July 11 in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Aichi, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka Prefectures, while those measures will be extended until July 11 in Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa Prefectures. Priority measures will end on June 20 in Gifu and Mie Prefectures.
 
In the area where the declaration of the state of emergency has just been extended, we will continue with the measures already in place.
 
In the areas subject to priority measures, we will also continue to take measures centered on eating and drinking, and we ask dining and drinking establishments to shorten their operating hours to close at 8 PM. We will permit alcohol to be served until 7 PM in establishments meeting requirements, including thoroughly taking steps to mitigate infections. However, beyond that, at the discretion of the prefectures, we will also make it possible to request that alcohol be suspended, in line with the state of infections.
 
Should we see any indication that medical care is coming under strain because of a reemerging spread of infections, we will deal with the situation agilely, including by strengthening our response measures.
 
We will continue to work full force to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while pressing ahead with vaccinations. We expect we will have administered over 40 million doses by the end of this month, and we have been informed that all municipalities are on track to finish administering the second dose to all elderly persons desiring it by the end of July.
 
I ask each minister to make every effort to conduct preventive measures against infections as well as inoculations in cooperation with the relevant ministries and agencies.”