Japan declares state of emergency but rules out ‘European-style’ lockdowns

JAPAN’S Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has declared a month-long state of emergency for Tokyo and six other prefectures to ramp up defences against the spread of coronavirus.

Mr Abe said there would be no European-style lockdowns.

The state of emergency will only permit Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike and heads of six other designated prefectures to do more to reinforce calls for social distancing.

Virtually all of those measures will be requests that cannot be enforced with penalties for violations.

The Covid-19 pandemic is now rampant and rapidly spreading, threatening people’s health, their daily lives and the economy.

Mr Abe said he planned to keep the state of emergency in place for a month, until May 6.

The announcement follows surges in new cases in Tokyo, including consecutive rises exceeding 100 over the weekend.

By Monday, there were 1,116 confirmed cases in the metropolitan region of 14 million people.

Nationwide, Japan has 3,906 confirmed cases, as well as 712 from a cruise ship quarantined at Yokohama port near Tokyo, with 91 deaths.

Mr Abe has been under pressure to declare a state of emergency to get better compliance with social distancing, as rising cases where there was no known contact with another patient led experts to say an alarming explosion in infections could overwhelm healthcare systems. Ms Koike welcomed the emergency measures, saying that because they are legally valid and involve co-ordinated action with the central government, she expects they “will prevail widely and deeply among the people”.

Japan’s limits on official action during a state of emergency stem from its experience with repression and disasters stemming from fascist governments before and during the Second World War.

The public is doubly wary due to the push by Mr Abe’s ultraconservative ruling party and its supporters for a constitutional amendment to include a state of emergency clause for disaster and wartime contingencies.

Mr Abe’s government is thought to have delayed declaring a state of emergency due to fear of how it might hurt the economy.

But as fear of the pandemic has grown, the public and medical experts have increasingly supported taking more drastic action.

Mr Abe has repeatedly said a hard lockdown, like in Italy and France where nobody is supposed to be outside for non-essential reasons, is not envisaged for Japan.

“We can only make a request, but it’s different from lockdowns enforced in France and other countries,” he said last week.

Measures include a stay-at-home request, guidance to schools on temporary closures and requests to close businesses and stores and to cancel or postpone events.