国际英语资讯:Japans death toll from COVID-19 tops 1,000, Tokyo steps up nightspot antiviral measures_时事

国际英语资讯:Japans death toll from COVID-19 tops 1,000, Tokyo steps up nightspot antiviral measures

The metropolitan government said on Monday that patrols were conducted by officials in Shinjuku Ward's Kabukicho nighttime entertainment district.

Kenichi Yoshizumi, mayor of Shinjuku, was quoted as saying that "the future of the entertainment district is at stake" with regard to Kabukicho.

Those included in the patrols visited bars and nightclubs and urged their owners and employees to do more to curb the spread of the virus, including ensuring establishments are well ventilated and sanitary measures maintained with disinfecting work carried out frequently.

The patrols will also be carried out on Tuesday, official said, with 300 bars and clubs aimed to be covered and issued with Yoshizumi's "strong message."

Japan's top government spokesperson Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press briefing on the matter Monday that police may also be deployed to inspect bars and clubs in virus-hit nighttime spots.

Suga said that such actions by police could help to prevent the virus from spreading further.

With concerns also rising about COVID-19 infections spreading on U.S. military bases in Japan's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, Japan's Defense Minister Taro Kono has called on the United States to conduct coronavirus testing on all U.S. military personnel coming to Japan.

Kono said the defense ministry here has requested that U.S. military personnel bound for Japan take one test prior to leaving the United States and one upon arrival in Japan.