Japan‘on the brink’ of coronavirus crisis

Monitoring Desk

TOKYO: Japan is struggling to hold the line against the coronavirus and is on the brink of crisis with medical experts particularly worried about preparations in Tokyo, officials said on Wednesday, raising the prospect of emergency lockdowns. Japan has some 2,200 cases of the coronavirus and 66 deaths, relatively small tallies compared with those of United States, China and some parts of Europe.

But the new infections are appearing relentlessly, with 105 reported on Wednesday, 65 of them in the capital, where cases are closely watched as increasing numbers there add to pressure on the government to take drastic steps. “We are barely holding the line and remain at a critical point where virus cases could surge if we let down our guard,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary committee. He is set to hold a meeting of his coronavirus task force later on Wednesday.

Abe is under pressure from the public to declare a state of emergency that would allow authorities to impose lockdowns and restrict movements, but on a voluntary, not a legally binding, basis. Economics Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said infectious disease experts were alarmed about medical preparations in Tokyo, which now has about 500 cases. (Reuters)