Japanese urged to isolate: report warns of 400 000 deaths

TOKYO: Japan urged its citizens yesterday to stay at home, as media reports warned that as many as

400 000 of them could die of the coronavirus without urgent action, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came under pressure to hand out more cash.

Japan, which tests only people with symptoms of the coronavirus, has so far recorded more than 9 000 infections, including a passenger who caught the virus on a cruise ship, with nearly 200 deaths.

Reports in Japanese media citing an undisclosed health ministry projection said fatalities could reach the 400 000 mark without mitigation measures.

It also estimated that as many as 850 000 people could need ventilators.

Japan has seen an accelerating infection rate in recent weeks, particularly in Tokyo.

The government has responded by declaring an emergency in

Tokyo and six other areas including Osaka, and a goal to cut interactions between people by 70%.

The measures include a request that people isolate and businesses close, although there are no fines or penalties to force compliance.

The government spokesperson, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, urged people to do everything in their power to help the government reach its target.

Japan’s capital yesterday announced 127 new cases, with at least 327 nationwide, according to Kyodo newswire.

A lawmaker, Takashi Takai, was forced to resign from the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan yesterday, after media reported he had visited a bar in Tokyo’s Kabukicho red light district despite the call to stay at home.

As Suga was calling for co-operation, the prime minister was coming under pressure to add a 100 000 yen (R17 384) payment to every citizen on top of a $1 trillion (R18 trillion) economic stimulus package that includes a 300 000 yen payment to households whose income has fallen because of the pandemic.

“I’ve urged the prime minister to make a decision and send a strong message of solidarity to the public,” Natsuo Yamaguchi, head of the Komeito party, the junior partner in the ruling coalition, told reporters after meeting Abe.

Other allies calling for action include Toshihiro Nikai, a leading member of Abe’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Speaking at his regular afternoon briefing, Suga said the government would consider further measures, but that for now it wanted “to extend help to households most affected”.

Japan’s coronavirus emergency economic stimulus will boost the country’s real gross domestic product by as much as 3.8%, the Cabinet Office said in a calculation released late yesterday.