Increased flow of people even when an emergency declaration is announced. Increased reservations for airlines and railways

On the 2nd, the government issued a state of emergency in four prefectures, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, and Osaka, following the rapid increase in the number of people infected with the new coronavirus. In order to prevent the spread of the infection, the government is calling for refraining from unnecessary and unurgent movement across prefectural borders, but the number of airline and rail reservations has increased from the previous year ahead of the Obon holiday, and the movement of people is rather becoming active. .. According to airlines, the number of domestic flight reservations during the Obon holiday period (6 to 15 days) is 1,653,000, 1.4 times that of the previous year. The number of international flights was 55,000, which was 2.7 times higher than the previous year. According to ANA, reservations have been increasing since mid-July, when the Tokyo Metropolitan Government entered the fourth declaration period, and the person in charge said, "Vaccination is progressing and there is a demand for people returning home." The same applies to railways. According to JR companies, reserved seat reservations for Shinkansen and conventional lines on the 6th to 17th will reach 840,000 as of 19th last month. It decreased by 76% from 2019 before the spread of infection, but increased by 10% from 20 years. By Shinkansen line, Hokkaido (up 28% year-on-year) and Tohoku (up 48% year-on-year) are growing significantly.
JR East offers a service that allows members to use part of the Shinkansen at half price. The number of people on weekends in resort areas (July 31st to August 1st) also increased from the weekends of the same period last year (August 1st and 2nd). According to estimates by Softbank subsidiary Agoop, Enoshima in Kanagawa prefecture was up 53%, Karuizawa / Prince Shopping Plaza in Nagano prefecture was up 33%, and Nasu town in Tochigi prefecture was up 12%. JTB, a major travel company, estimates that the number of domestic travelers during the summer vacation (July 20-August 31) will increase by 5.3% from the previous year to 40 million. In response to this announcement, beaches in Kamogawa City and Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture were closed from the 2nd. In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has decided to continue suspending discounts on weekends and holidays for local highways until the 29th. The subject of the declaration was a total of 6 prefectures, including Tokyo and Okinawa, where the period was extended. "Priority measures such as spread prevention" were applied to the five prefectures of Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo, and Fukuoka. The period for both the declaration and the spread prevention measures is up to 31 days.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato appealed to avoid moving across prefectural borders at a press conference on the 2nd, and pointed out that "the infection has spread due to long vacations and consecutive holidays." In particular, he emphasized that he "urges people to refrain from moving from areas where declarations are issued, such as the Tokyo metropolitan area." Regarding the application of spread prevention measures to both Tochigi and Fukushima prefectures, Mr. Kato said, "We will promptly consider if requested." Tochigi Prefecture requested the government to apply it on the 2nd, and Fukushima Prefecture is also considering the request.