Pandemic complicates Japan’s recovery fight

Japan’s state of emergency restrictions are not curbing movement as effectively as in the past, according to mobility data, hurting the government’s fight to slow Covid-19 infections and raising the risk the economic recovery could be delayed.

A surge in Delta variant cases forced the government to extend on Tuesday its fourth state of emergency by around two weeks through Sept. 12 and expand targeted areas to nearly 60 per cent of the population.

After repeated stop-and-go curbs, however, voluntary requests to stay home may be falling on deaf ears among the pandemic-fatigued population, with mobility data pointing to a recent spike in movement around train stations in the country.

While increased mobility is supporting consumption in the short-term, it is doing little to slow infections, which analysts worry could delay a full reopening and broader recovery in the world’s third largest economy.

Mobility around Tokyo station, the capital city’s main transport hub, spiked 233 per cent on Monday from a week ago as people returned from their summer holidays, according to data from private firm Agoop Corp cited in a government portal. In Tokyo’s Shinjuku station, mobility rose 17.2 per cent over the same period.

In Fukuoka, a city in southwestern Japan also targeted by restrictions, mobility in the main Hakata station was up 29.1 per cent on Monday from the week before, while in Osaka’s Shinsaibashi station, it was up 31.9 per cent.

“It feels like I’ve lost track of how many times there was a state of emergency,” said Katsuhide Nagamatsu, a 54-year-old social insurance consultant in Fukuoka. “Everyone is numb to it now.”