Okinawa Begins State of Emergency Due to COVID Spread

There has been an uptick in COVID cases in Okinawa with five of them being US military personnel:

Okinawa prefecture on Sunday reported 231 newly infected people, a pandemic one-day high for the prefecture, according to its coronavirus tracking website. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suge declared a state of emergency there starting Sunday until June 20, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The Okinawa prefectural government is asking individuals traveling to Okinawa to have a negative COVID-19 test within 72 hours of their arrival, according to a Monday post on Yokota Air Base’s Facebook page.

“This is not a requirement, but travelers are advised to check with their airlines prior to any scheduled departures for any airline specific changes,” the message said.

Okinawa expects bars and restaurants that serve alcohol to close and shopping malls and sport clubs to close at 8 p.m., according to NHK.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but total COVID deaths on Okinawa rose to 146 since the pandemic started with 5 in the last seven days.