Abe to Extend Japan's State of Emergency Through May 31

• 05.04.2020, 10:56
•  Asia,  World

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is set to extend Japan’s state of emergency by around a month through May 31 amid rising fears that the continued spread of the new coronavirus could flood hospitals with patients, a government official said Sunday, JapanTimes reports.

Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and health minister Katsunobu Kato met at the Prime Minister’s Office on Sunday. After analyzing the situation, they agreed on the need to extend the emergency declaration through the end of this month.

Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike also confirmed in a livestreamed video on Sunday that Nishimura told her the government will extend the emergency status until the end of the month.

Abe is expected to announce the extension during a news conference scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Monday. The declaration, originally set to expire Wednesday following a one-month period, has led local governments to ask residents to stay home as much as possible and some businesses to shut to prevent the virus’s spread.

But another senior official said the government is also planning to allow the reopening of parks, museums, libraries and some other public facilities, even in areas with a relatively high number of infections.

As part of efforts to deal with public weariness with the prolonged state of emergency, Nishimura said at a news conference that the government will permit those facilities to restart if sufficient measures to prevent the spread of the virus are put in place.

Experts have warned of the risks of letting the guard down too soon, while limited testing makes it hard to assess the true scale of infections.

As of Sunday, the number of infections reported in Japan has topped 15,000, including around 4,600 in Tokyo. The virus has killed over 500 across the country.

The government was set to release a set of guidelines on how to resume social activities on Monday.

The planned reopening of public facilities will be allowed in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hokkaido, Fukuoka and eight other prefectures that the government has acknowledged for taking stepped-up measures against the virus, according to Nishimura, who is in charge of issues related to the state of emergency.

Speaking with reporters, Nishimura also said the government is considering using the Regional Economy Vitalization Corp. of Japan, a public-private investment fund, to financially support troubled midsized firms in nonurban areas.

“About ¥1 trillion ($9.3 billion) has been prepared (by the fund) for the whole country. If necessary, we will also think about increasing this amount,” Nishimura said.

He also said the government is considering increasing the current subsidy of up to ¥8,330 per day provided to companies for each employee taking days off due to the spread of the virus.

On a TV program, Nishimura said that if realized, the increased amount will be paid for all days taken off since the subsidy program was introduced in early April.

In addition, he said the government plans to disclose numerical targets for when to lift the state of emergency.

Experts will make an interim assessment on the effects of the Japanese government’s state of emergency extension about two weeks after it goes into effect, Nishimura said.

As the situation will likely vary by region, the government wants to make appropriate judgments about coming responses based the assessment, he added.

On Friday, a government panel recommended that requests for people to stay at home and some businesses to close be kept in place for the time being as the number of infections has not fallen sharply since Abe initially declared the state of emergency on April 7 for Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures.

On April 16, Abe expanded it to cover the rest of the country, urging the public to avoid closed spaces, crowded places and close contact with other people.

The state of emergency was originally scheduled to end Wednesday, the last day of the Golden Week holiday period.