NSTworld: Prime Minister ShinzoAbe is set to declare a state of emergency within days, after Covid19 coronavirus cases in Tokyo jumped over the weekend to top 1,000.
Abe will announce the plan as soon as Monday, with the formal declaration for the Tokyo area coming as early as Tuesday, the Yomiuri newspaper reported, without attribution. Osaka is also likely to be included, while Hyogo, Saitama and Hokkaido prefectures are under consideration, according to Kyodo News and other media reports. Japan’s biggest-ever stimulus package worth 60 trillion yen may also be announced on Tuesday.
Abe’s government saw its approval rating slip to its lowest since Oct 2018 in a poll from broadcaster JNN released on Monday with a majority of respondents faulting the way the government has managed the virus crisis. The poll taken on April 4-5 showed that about 80 per cent of respondents said the declaration should be made.
Declaring a state of emergency hands powers to local governments, including to urge residents to stay at home. By contrast with some other countries though, there is no legal power to enforce such requests due to civil liberties protections in Japanese law. Last week, the US Embassy in Tokyo advised American citizens to return home, saying Japan’s low testing rate makes it hard to accurately assess the prevalence of the virus. The Japan Medical Association warned last week that the jump in cases in the nation’s most populous cities is putting more pressure on medical resources and that the government should declare a state of emergency.
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