Japan's restaurant booze ban sets new COVID-19 emergency apart
23/04/2021 10:31
By Rocky Swift
TOKYO, April 23 (Reuters) - Japan is singling out alcohol
consumption in bars and restaurants in a new state of emergency
for Tokyo, Osaka and two other prefectures, a response that
highlights experts' belief that alcohol can help accelerate
transmission of COVID-19.
The move is a departure for Japan, which in two previous
pandemic emergency declarations did not impose specific curbs on
alcohol.
"When alcohol is involved, people's voices get a lot
bigger," said Makoto Tsubokura, who leads a team at research
giant Riken and Kobe University that uses supercomputers to
model infection situations. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL3N2L30ZA
Loud voices, plus lapses in hygiene and a tendency to linger
at the bar, all contributed to increased risk of aerosol
contagion, Tsubokura added.
Under the state of emergency for April 25 to May 11, the
government will require restaurants, bars, and karaoke parlours
serving alcohol in the designated prefectures to close, Economy
Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2MF4QX
Social gatherings with drinking are situations the
government is focusing on with its new guidelines, according to
Makoto Shimoaraiso, a Cabinet official guiding Japan's pandemic
response. The scientific mechanism for contagion needs more
research, he added.
Much of the country had already been under infection control
measures that included shortened business hours and guidelines
that restaurant patrons be separated by acrylic partitions.
While the economy has suffered from the pandemic,
restaurants and bars have been hit particularly hard.
Global-Dining Inc 7625.T , the operator of more than 40
restaurants, said on Friday it would not comply with the
government's request to shorten hours unless ordered to do so.
urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2LS1BK
The company sued the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last
month, claiming that its infection control measures were unfair
and unscientific. Restaurant chains Saizeriya Co 7581.T and
Skylark Holdings Co 3197.T said they will remain open while
complying with the alcohol ban, the Nikkei newspaper reported on
Friday.
Most health experts say that a general adherence to hygiene
rules and social distancing have helped Japan keep overall
COVID-19 cases and deaths relatively low, without the kind of
rigid lockdowns seen in other countries.
In April last year, the World Health Organization warned
that alcohol could dampen one's immune response to COVID-19. But
it remains unclear if the act of drinking itself helps to spread
the virus.
"Alcohol is potentially a physical risk to the person
through an increased risk of aspiration of droplets," said Jason
Tetro, and infectious disease specialist based in Edmonton,
Canada. "But it is more of a social risk in that it reduces the
adherence to prevention techniques due to intoxication."
(Reporting by Rocky Swift; Editing by Nick Macfie)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))