Chairman Nakamura’s Comments on Partial Lifting of
the State of Emergency Declaration for the Coronavirus Pandemic

May 14, 2020

The state of emergency declaration has been partially lifted. This results from the cooperation of many people over an exceptionally long period to prevent the spread of infection, and is evidence of progress in Japan’s efforts to free itself from the effects of the COVID-19 crisis. In regions where the state of emergency has been lifted, local public bodies and companies now need to prevent a resurgence of infection while hastening to restore economic activity, and will need to gather a wide range of knowledge to simultaneously resolve these two conflicting challenges. To this end, it will be vital to clarify criteria for lifting or re-imposing restrictions and refine monitoring of infection status.

By working hand-in-hand with our member companies and their business partners to ensure availability of goods essential to people’s lives, the JFTC will help to restore economic activity and rebuild supply chains in pandemic-resilient forms. Through such efforts, we are determined to do our utmost to create post-COVID-19 economic systems.