Japan lifts state of emergency

TOKYO: Japan lifted a nationwide state of emergency over the coronavirus on Monday, gradually reopening the world’s thirdlargest economy as government officials warned caution was still necessary to prevent another wave.

“We had very stringent criteria for lifting the state of emergency. We have judged that we have met this,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a nationally televised news conference.

Compared with hard-hit areas in Europe, the United States, Russia and Brazil, Japan has been spared the worst of the pandemic, with 16,581 infections and 830 deaths. But on April 7, with cases beginning to spike and fears for the country’s health system, Abe declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and six other regions – later expanding it to cover the entire nation.

Businesses and schools were urged to shut and people were asked to remain home, but Japan’s lockdown was far softer than in other parts of the world and there was no punishment for those flouting the rules.

Citizens largely heeded the orders, however, with most of Tokyo’s famously packed streets falling quiet. The number of new infections has fallen from a peak of around 700 per day to just a few dozen nationally.

Abe lauded Japan’s success in flattening the curve, saying the country “was able to show the strength of the so-called Japan model”.

But he warned that people would have to adapt to a “new normal” and continue to avoid the “three Cs” – closed spaces, crowded places and close contact.

“If we lower our guard, the infection will spread very rapidly ... we need to be vigilant,” he said.

“We need to create a new lifestyle; from now on we need to change our way of thinking.”

There does not appear to be a clear reason why the pandemic has not hit Japan as hard as other comparable countries.

High levels of hygiene and general health, the habit of removing shoes indoors, widespread mask usage, and bowing as a greeting rather than shaking hands or kissing: all have been advanced as possible reasons.

Japan has come under fire for a relatively low level of testing with around 270,000 carried out – the lowest per capita rate in the group of seven advanced economies, according to Worldometer. — AFP