Japan all set to declare emergency due to Coronavirus outbreak

Looking at the current COVID-19 situation, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has decided to declare a state of emergency by Tuesday (April 7) across the country. According to the news reports, the number of Coronavirus positive people in Tokyo, the country’s capital city, has reached 1000 while the total number of infected is 3654.

The PM is likely to discuss his emergency plans today and introduce new measures for the containment of the virus. There was immense pressure on the Japanese government to take a move regarding the pandemic. Though the number of positive cases in Japan is not as high as compared to other nations in the world such as the USA, China, Italy or Spain, a strong decision was needed considering the increasing number of positive cases.Last week, the Governor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike said that given the boost in the number of infected people, she would favour a state-of-emergency declaration in the country. Declaring an emergency means the governors of the worst infected regions will have the legal authority to ask residents to stay home and shut down businesses for a while.
However, this emergency won’t be like the lockdown other countries have imposed to fight the virus. Under emergency, residents won’t be punished or fined if they ignore requests and it will rely on people’s respect for authority.

Japan has pledged to fight what the United Nations is calling the 'biggest global crisis since WWII'. Meanwhile the country has also tightened its border security as the number of COVID-19 cases have increased unprecedentedly in the United States.