Coronavirus: Japan cases surged after Go To Travel campaign began, study finds

The number of travel-associated infections rose by nearly seven times after the government launched a domestic tourism scheme, researchers found

Meanwhile, Thailand has reported a record 914 new cases, while South Korea is seeing a new wave of church-linked cases

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Visit at Nagoya Castle in central Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Published: 10:10am, 25 Jan 2021Updated: 12:00am, 26 Jan 2021

The number of travel-associated coronavirus cases in Japan increased by nearly seven times after the government began a subsidy programme aimed at promoting domestic tourism in July, a recent study found.

“Although the second epidemic wave in Japan had begun to decline by mid-August, enhanced domestic tourism may have contributed to increasing travel-associated Covid-19 cases,” Kyoto University researchers Hiroshi Nishiura and Asami Anzai said in the study, published on Thursday in the Journal of Clinical Medicine.

They analysed daily virus numbers prior to and after the “Go To Travel” campaign, spearheaded by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, that effectively covered half a traveller’s expenses.

Policemen hold signs asking people to stay home amid rising coronavirus cases in Tokyo on Friday. Photo: AFP

The scheme was launched on July 22 to support the tourism industry after it was severely affected by the pandemic. But the government suspended the campaign nationwide in late December due to a sharp resurgence of infections, although Suga was reluctant to change course until the last minute.

The researchers studied travel movements of some 4,000 people from 24 of Japan’s prefectures who contracted the Covid-19 between May and August last year.

A total of 817 had crossed prefectural borders or had come into contact with those who had.