[Week 4, July] Latest COVID-19 Trends with Chris & Partners

✅ Latest COVID-19 Trends with Chris & Partners

(As of Jul 27, 2021)

@ Domestic

The metropolitan area—Social Distancing Level 4, which had been planned for two weeks, was extended again for another two weeks, from July 26 to August 8, due to confirmed cases that didn't drop below the 1,000s. Accordingly, as in the past two weeks, the rules banning gatherings of 5 or more, and gatherings of 3 or more after 6 p.m., apply as is. Weddings and funerals have changes. In the past two weeks, only up to 49 relatives could attend, but for the coming two weeks, up to 49 people are allowed regardless of kinship. Exhibitions and fairs—when held, on-site booth staff may enter only after a PCR test confirms a negative result, and numbers are limited to within 2 people. Also, operating by reservation and limiting capacity to 1 person per 6m² are among the strengthened quarantine rules. Also, international conferences and academic events are allowed by applying a two-seat gap. The non-metropolitan regions, where distancing had been eased, also have Social Distancing Level 3 applied from July 27. However, cities and counties with populations of 100,000 or fewer were judged to have a low risk of a balloon effect, so local governments were left to decide autonomously, considering the regional situation. Due to the Level 3 escalation, the ban on private gatherings of 5 or more is extended, and nighttime drinking is banned at parks, resorts, beaches, and the like. Entertainment facilities face a gathering ban, and academies, indoor sports facilities, arcades, and the like face a 10 p.m. operating restriction.

@ Overseas

Currently hosting the Olympics, Japan had 2 athletes and 3 team officials, among others, test positive in connection with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. With this, the cumulative number of Tokyo Olympics-related confirmed cases reached 155. In Tokyo, where the Olympics are being held, 1,429 additional confirmed cases were added. As for vaccinations, first-dose recipients number about 46.91 million, 39.90% of the total population, and second-dose recipients about 32.47 million, 25.54% of the total population. In the US, the Delta variant is spreading rapidly, centered on the unvaccinated. Because 50% are still not fully vaccinated, the problem is said to be more serious; Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said the US is “going in the wrong direction.” The New York Times (NYT), citing US CDC data and more, reported that as of the 23rd, vaccinations numbered about 537,000—an 84% plunge compared with the April 13 peak (3.38 million). France surpassed 40 million people with at least one vaccine dose. President Macron said on Twitter this is a figure amounting to 60% of France's population. The French government recently, as prevention against the COVID resurgence from the Delta variant, asked people to present a ‘vaccine passport’—a certificate that one has completed vaccination—when entering restaurants and leisure facilities; in response, 160,000 people nationwide held protests denouncing the measure as an excessive restriction. Meanwhile, our country signed a Saipan travel bubble* agreement and implemented it from the 24th, but unlike initial expectations, due to the domestic 4th wave and the Delta variant, the effect is forecast to be slight for the time being. *Travel bubble: in the COVID-19 situation, two or more countries sign an agreement to allow travel between them without quarantine measures. We pray that a complete end to the coronavirus comes as soon as possible, and we hope all the athletes sweating hard at the Olympics can finish their competitions in good health!