As coronavirus cases continue to rise in Japan, the country will impose a state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures, while the government will push through close to $1 trillion stimulus package to soften economic blow.?
The cases of infection in the country has topped 4000, and 93 have died so far. While the number is lower than many countries, the cases have been increasing every day.?
"Japan won't, and doesn't need, to take lockdown steps like those overseas," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told reporters, citing the opinion of infectious disease experts. "Trains will be running and supermarkets will be open. The state of emergency will allow us to strengthen current steps to prevent an increase in infections while ensuring that economic activity is sustained as much as possible," he said.
Abe has faced criticism for?not activating emergency measures earlier, as experts warned the true number of cases could be far higher than the official statistics suggest, due to a lack of widespread testing.??
Sounding an alarm over the high rate of cases that could not be traced, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike indicated last week that she would favour a state of emergency as a way to help her urge residents to abide by stronger social-distancing measures.
The emergency measures are meant to reduce social activity by 80%, a critical degree to curtail infections, said Koji Wada, a member of the expert panel advising policymakers. The government must show "guts" in levelling with the public, with Abe being specific in his declaration about how people should conduct daily life.
The country's government?is also planning to finalise a significant stimulus package worth 108 trillion yen ($990bn) - equal to 20 percent of Japan's economic output - to cushion the heavy effect of the coronavirus pandemic on the world's third-largest economy.