Local News

State of Emergency Lifted in Fukuoka – Businesses and Schools To Reopen – Guidelines For a Second Wave of COVID-19 Announced

On May 14, the governor of Fukuoka, Hiroshi Ogawa, revealed his plan in response to the national government’s announcement that the state of emergency has been lifted in all prefectures of Kyushu and Okinawa. In Fukuoka Prefecture, closure requests for all businesses were lifted as of May 15 with some exceptions. Eateries with guest services (including nightclubs and cabarets) bars, karaoke parlors, live music venues, and sports clubs remain requested to close until May 31, reflecting the potential of infection clusters.

Other eateries can now resume operation while adhering to infection prevention measures such as maintaining enough space between groups of guests, frequent cleaning, and sanitizing. Requests for shorter business hours for those shops were withdrawn. Prefectural cultural facilities, including museums and libraries, will reopen.

Also, the prefecture prepares to resume school classes at its prefectural schools on May 18. New school hours will be introduced from the beginning until a switch back to regular operation on May 25.

Meanwhile, the prefecture developed independent guidelines to brace for the possibility of a second wave of the infection. Restriction of social activities might be tightened again in case of:

    1. Eight or more infections found per day for three consecutive days (or average daily cases of the recent three days reaches eight)
    2. The rate of unknown transmission routes reaches 50% or above for three consecutive days.
    3. 50% or more of hospital beds are occupied.
    4. 50% or more of the hospital beds for patients with severe symptoms are occupied.

To avoid squandering the efforts taken by residents over the last month, the governor insists on the importance of sticking to what is called the “new lifestyle.” Hand washing, wearing masks, and physical-distancing are encouraged along with teleworking and commuting during less congested hours. Also, self-restraints on outings without essential or urgent matters are requested, especially to places where “three Cs” can occur. Residents are asked to stay inside the prefecture except for urgent matters.

On May 14, one new case of COVID-19 infection was found in the prefecture, involving a medical nurse in her twenties. The cumulative total now becomes 657. Amongst them, 510 had recovered as of May 13.  Sources: Nikkei / Mainichi / NHK / Fukuoka Prefecture

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Fukuoka Prefecture
Published: May 15, 2020 / Last Updated: May 15, 2020

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