Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike announced Wednesday that restaurants and bars offering alcohol and karaoke parlors in the capital will be urged to close by 10 p.m. for three weeks beginning Saturday amid an ongoing nationwide surge of the novel coronavirus.
The request encompasses the capital’s central 23 wards and the Tama region in western Tokyo and runs until Dec. 17. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government allocated ¥20 billion yen in a supplementary budget proposed earlier this month to provide ¥400,000 in financial compensation to each business that complies with the voluntary request.
“I urge residents to avoid nonessential outings and take necessary social distancing measures if they do need to go out. I urge companies to continue to promote teleworking,” Koike said during a meeting of the metropolitan government’s coronavirus task force Wednesday. “All that can be done must be done to stop the virus from spreading further.”
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