[Pandemic fatigue is a key ingredient, experts say. After many months of restrictions and with cases seemingly under control for a while, people have become tired of the rules, bored with staying at home and complacent about the risks.]
By Simon Denyer
But
in Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong, governments are reimposing restrictions
this week, as public complacency, policy blunders and colder weather fuel a new
surge in virus cases.
Japan
is scaling back a contentious subsidy program designed to encourage domestic
tourism and dining out, after it became clear the enticements were helping to
fuel a third wave that has resulted in record new infections.
In
Seoul, officials ordered bars and nightclubs to close and limited dine-in
service at cafes and restaurants this week, after an earlier easing of
restrictions allowed the virus to roar back.
Hong
Kong also closed bars and nightclubs, days after officials postponed the launch of a travel bubble with
Singapore — a highly anticipated experiment that was set to herald a reopening
of quarantine-free travel in Asia — after the virus found gaps in the
territory’s defenses to stage a comeback.
[As
infections ebb, Japan hopes it has cracked the covid code on coexisting with
the virus]
The
numbers of new infections here are a fraction of those in West, with Japan
recently reporting more than 2,000 new cases a day, South Korea more than 300 a
day, and Hong Kong recording 73 new confirmed cases on Monday — compared with
more than 150,000 a day in the United States.
Yet
the infection rates are still high enough to ring alarm bells, especially given
the high proportion of elderly people in places like Japan, as winter
approaches and doors and windows close against the chill.
Pandemic
fatigue is a key ingredient, experts say. After many months of restrictions and
with cases seemingly under control for a while, people have become tired of the
rules, bored with staying at home and complacent about the risks.
On
Tokyo’s streets this past week, everybody has been wearing a mask. But bars and
restaurants have been packed with people who have cast their face coverings
aside.
“Our
control measures rely on voluntary behavior change,” said Hitoshi Oshitani, a
professor at Tohoku University’s Graduate School of Medicine who is a member of
the government’s coronavirus advisory team. “And it’s getting more difficult
to persuade people to change behavior. Even though the number of cases is much,
much higher than in March or April, people are quite relaxed.”
Kang
Do-tae, South Korea’s vice health minister, warned Tuesday of a “triple bind”
of asymptomatic patients, transmission among young people, and colder weather
in which the virus thrives because of increased indoor activity.
“The
unforeseen development of the third wave forewarns an even harsher and harder
winter,” Kang told government officials at a meeting to discuss the coronavirus
response.
As
the peak of flu season approaches and hospital beds fill up, that complacency
is increasingly dangerous, experts say.
But
there have also been policy blunders, U-turns and misfires that have given the
virus the opportunity to spread.
[Cellphone
apps designed to track covid struggle amid privacy concerns]
To
rescue its economy from a record slump, the Japanese government launched the Go
to Travel and the Go to Eat subsidy programs in July and October, respectively,
offering to repay consumers up to half the costs of flights, hotels, meals and
other expenses. The aid brought welcome relief to industries floored by the
pandemic, but it also helped the virus to penetrate new corners of this island
nation.
On
Monday, the governors of the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and the western
prefecture of Osaka announced they were withdrawing their regional capital
cities from the subsidy program, a decision the central government reluctantly endorsed the next day.
Tokyo
Governor Yuriko Koike also raised concerns Tuesday.
“It
is clear that the movement of people is having an impact on this increase in
cases,” she said at a news conference. “And we are seeing these situations where
in times of eating out, the virus does spread. This is then brought home into
the household, where perhaps there are elderly members of the family who have
lower immunity.”
Tokyo
Governor Yuriko Koike also raised concerns Tuesday.
“It
is clear that the movement of people is having an impact on this increase in
cases,” she said at a news conference. “And we are seeing these situations where
in times of eating out, the virus does spread. This is then brought home into
the household, where perhaps there are elderly members of the family who have
lower immunity.”
Opposition
politicians slammed the government, saying it was acting too late. Yoshimasa
Suenobu, a veteran journalist and a professor of media studies at Tokai
University, said it was as though the government was driving a car “without
thinking about how to brake.”
“A
car won’t drive well unless both the accelerator and the brake perform equally
well,” he said on Nippon Broadcasting System.
In
South Korea, which won praise for effectively tamping down the first major
epidemic outside China, officials have continued to fight small but persistent
outbreaks.
Believing
it had a second wave under control, the government eased social distancing
rules last month. Over the past two weeks, however, more than 60 infection
clusters emerged across the country, including at schools, military bases and
churches.
[With
virus flip-flops, Hong Kongers ponder whether their leaders are out to lunch]
“Infections
from the first and second waves left lingering transmission risks across the
South Korean society, which caught fire as social distancing rules were lifted
without proper preparations,” said Kim Yoon, a professor at Seoul National
University’s College of Medicine, warning the outbreaks could overwhelm South
Korea’s contact-tracing regime.
“Unlike
previous outbreaks which stemmed from few big clusters, the third wave consists
of dozens of small clusters that are harder for contact tracers to track,” he
added.
In
Hong Kong, a cluster of infections originating
from dance clubs has shattered a weeks-long streak of low to zero
local cases. That cluster has emerged as one of the biggest Hong Kong has seen,
with more than 130 confirmed cases.
The
city’s government has moved belatedly to close loopholes that had given the virus a path back,
including lax hotel quarantine arrangements for returning residents, who were
forced to quarantine for 14 days but could still have visitors.
But
the financial hub is also battling a similar wave of fatigue and complacency
that Japan has experienced.
“Seeing
videos and photos of the dancing clusters that have gone viral, we can see
people totally not respecting the regulations during a pandemic,” Hong Kong
Chief Executive Carrie Lam said Tuesday, pointing out that people were engaged
in close-contact activities without masks on.
“It
seems like this new wave of infection will be quite severe.”
Akiko
Kashwagi in Tokyo, Min Joo Kim in Seoul, and Theodora Yu and Shibani Mahtani in
Hong Kong contributed to this report.
Read
more
As
infections ebb, Japan hopes it has cracked the covid code on coexisting with
the virus
Cellphone
apps designed to track covid spread struggle worldwide amid privacy concerns
With
virus flip-flops, Hong Kongers ponder whether their leaders are out to lunch
