The country is on the brink of crisis as it struggles to hold the line against the Covid-19 pandemic, with lockdowns looking likely.

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, raising the prospect of emergency lockdowns.

Japan has recorded 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 yesterday – 65 of them in the capital, where cases are being 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 yesterday.

He was set to hold a meeting of his coronavirus task force later yesterday.

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.

“Many experts expressed a very strong sense of crisis and opinions over the spread of infections in Tokyo and the current state of medical preparedness,” Nishimura told reporters.

“We must prevent infections from spreading further no matter what.

“We have come to the edge of edges, to the very brink.”

The governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, has requested that residents of the city of nearly 14 million people stay indoors and avoid restaurants and bars.

“People are saying, ‘I didn’t think I would get infected myself.’

“I want everyone to share the awareness that one should both protect oneself while also avoiding spreading (the virus),” she said. — Reuters