Tokyo: Hokkaido island in Japan has reported 135 fresh COVID-19 cases within 26 days of the lifting of the lockdown in the country.
With 38 new cases reported on Tuesday in Hokkaido, the total number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 688, the fifth-highest in Japan. Following the spike, the authorities imposed a second lockdown, which is scheduled to end on May 6.
Many experts agree to the fact that it was too early for Japan to lift the lockdown.
“We know that was the wrong move now, but then it seemed the best thing to do. These lockdowns and states of emergency will have to be lifted eventually, but the lesson is to wait as long as possible, to get accurate data on infection numbers and to be very, very cautious when the rules are relaxed,” professor of infection control at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, Yoko Tsukamoto was quoted as saying by The Telegraph.
However, amid the rising number of cases, the Japanese government could reimpose the lockdown on the entire country for a month, the Nikkei business daily reported.
Besides this, the government was heavily criticized for conducting less number of Covid-19 tests. At present, there are reportedly 13,576 cases with 376 deaths in the country.
