Tokyo may ease alcohol ban in bars for 'solitary drinkers'

Tokyo: Tokyo authorities may be planning to ease bans on serving alcohol in bars "solitary drinkers" after the state of emergency in the Japanese capital is lifted, a media report said on Friday.

According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported, authorities in the capital are planning to permit the ordering of alcohol between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. by "solitary drinkers", but the 8 p.m. limit for bars and restaurants to close their doors will remain, reports Xinhua news agency.

The newspaper indicated the "solitary drinkers" will each be allowed to spend 90 minutes at a particular venue serving alcohol between the designated times.

On Thursday, the government approved the lifting of the Covid-19 state of emergency for nine prefectures from June 21.

Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo have been under a virus state of emergency since April 25.

The measures, which were originally supposed to be lifted on May 11, have been extended twice and expanded to include Aichi, Fukuoka, Hokkaido, Okayama, Hiroshima and Okinawa prefectures.

The state of emergency is currently set to end for all prefectures except Okinawa on June 20.

Okinawa will remain under the current state of emergency until July 11 due to the recent resurgence.

But rather than lifting all virus measures completely, the government will introduce a quasi-state of emergency until July 11 for Tokyo and eight other prefectures.