西村担当相「病床逼迫解消で宣言解除」　尾身氏、感染減鈍化を警戒

　西村康稔経済再生担当相は１４日のＮＨＫ番組で、新型コロナウイルス対策で緊急事態宣言が発令されている１０都府県について、病床の逼迫（ひっぱく）が十分改善したかを見極めた上で、宣言解除を判断する考えを明らかにした。解除後直ちに「まん延防止等重点措置」に移行することは否定した。
　西村氏は「緊急事態宣言の解除後、直ちにまん延防止等重点措置を使うのではなく、宣言の下で病床も安定的に確保できる状況を作り上げたい」と説明。ワクチン接種の開始に触れ、「医療機関への負荷をかなり下げていく必要がある」と強調した。
　政府の新型コロナウイルス感染症対策分科会の尾身茂会長は、新規感染者数の減少傾向鈍化に懸念を示した。感染再拡大を防ぐため「年度末の謝恩会や卒業旅行は避けてもらうことが非常に重要だ」と呼び掛けた。
　宣言の解除に関しては「重要なのは医療機関や保健所の負荷が軽減されることだ」と指摘した。（2021/02/14-14:16）

Japanese economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said Sunday that the government will consider lifting its fresh state of emergency over the novel coronavirus after confirming that the strain on hospital bed capacity in areas under the emergency has eased substantially.
   Nishimura, who is in charge of government responses to the coronavirus crisis, showed the view in a television program.
   The state of emergency, issued in January, now covers Tokyo and neighboring Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures, the central prefectures of Aichi and Gifu, the western prefectures of Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo, and the southwestern prefecture of Fukuoka. It is currently slated to run until March 7, one month longer than initially planned.
   Nishimura denied that the 10 prefectures will be placed under a pre-emergency stage, which was created under the revised special coronavirus law, immediately after the state of emergency is lifted.
   "We want to prepare an environment in which hospital beds for coronavirus patients are secured stably under the state of emergency," rather than taking intensive measures to prevent a spread of the virus in the 10 prefectures under the pre-emergency stage upon the lifting of the emergency, he said.