With an increase of 97% in one week, recorded on Friday August 6, Japan has become the second country in the world where the Covid-19 pandemic is accelerating the most after Israel.
"The infections are spreading at a rate that we have never known before," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga admitted the day before during a meeting of his government on the health crisis.
As the more contagious Delta variant spread, the number of new infections nationwide surpassed 15,000 cases for the first time on Friday and Tokyo rose above the 5,000 daily new infections on Thursday, fact unprecedented in the Japanese capital.
Japan had been relatively spared from the pandemic so far, with some 15,000 dead since the appearance of the coronavirus on its soil for a national population of 126 million, all without drastic confinements.
To cope with the current situation, the government should extend the state of emergency already applied in six departments, including those of Tokyo and Osaka (west), to eight additional Japanese departments.
The device, criticized by health experts for its low efficiency, allows bars and restaurants to close earlier and not to serve alcohol, instructions that are not always followed.
An outbreak of cases not attributable to the Olympic Games
This outbreak comes as the Tokyo Olympics draw to a close.
The upsurge in cases corresponds a few days to the start of the international sporting event, the opening ceremony of which took place on July 23.
The number of contaminations has increased by 144,000 since that date, but the Japanese Prime Minister, like the International Olympic Committee, assure that the sporting event has not contributed to the increase in infections.
"The current outbreak is first and foremost linked to the Delta variant. It would have taken place, OJ or not OJ," said Valérie Niquet, researcher and author of "Japan in 100 questions, a declining model? "
(ed. Tallandier).
The sports competition took place almost entirely behind closed doors and with many restrictions for all participants, which made it possible to contain the some 353 cases of Covid-19 identified since July 1 on the perimeter of the Games.
In addition to the global emergence of the Delta variant, the causes of the explosion of cases are above all attributable to the delay in vaccination in Japan.
Vaccination in the country got off to a slow start, and at present, less than a third of Japanese are fully vaccinated.
Japanese spared, in no hurry to get vaccinated
The country had chosen to give itself time before launching its vaccination campaign in April, more than four months after most other developed countries. "The authorities and the Japanese population took some time to realize the risk," explains Valérie Niquet. "Like other Asian countries, Japan quickly chose to close its border. And undoubtedly protected by its insularity, the country was able to have few infections on its soil and very few deaths to deplore This partly explains the slow start of vaccination. The Japanese did not feel the same sense of urgency as in Europe. "
Japan, which is among the most vaccinosceptic in the world, has also chosen to subject the vaccines to reinforced clinical examinations, in particular on the Japanese population, before giving the green light.
The reasons for this caution?
The government wanted to guard against possible class action lawsuits which have multiplied since the 1970s, leading to the withdrawal of many vaccines, the authorities being able to be held responsible for any side effects.
Containment impossible in Japan
For Valérie Niquet, there was also "a contradiction in the discourse of the authorities" who called for caution, declaring a state of emergency and taking restrictive measures, while agreeing to maintain the Olympics. As a result, "awareness of a real risk does not yet seem to be present among young people," notes the researcher.
Finally, for constitutional reasons, Japan is not in a position to adopt overly restrictive sanitary measures.
"The Japanese constitution is very protective of individual and corporate rights. The government cannot force the closure of businesses, it can just 'recommend' it. Likewise, it cannot force the Japanese to stay at home, he can only 'recommend' it, "says Valérie Niquet.
"French-style confinement cannot therefore take place in Japan, that is constitutionally not possible".
With AFP and Reuters
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