All national dailies wrote that Osaka Prefecture raised its coronavirus alert level from “yellow” to “red,” indicating an “emergency,” on Thursday for the first time since the system was implemented in May. The prefecture is asking Osaka residents to refrain from nonessential outings from Dec. 4 through 15. The move was made in response to the COVID-19 infection situation there that is pushing the medical system to the brink of collapse. Osaka Governor Yoshimura said the medical system in the prefecture is in a state of emergency because the occupancy rate of the prefecture’s hospital beds set aside for serious cases is expected to soon reach 70%.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Suga stated at a meeting of the tourism promotion taskforce on Thursday that the GOJ plans to extend the “Go To Travel” campaign while taking the infection situation and travel demand into consideration.