Japan is set this week to revise a law allowing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus if needed.<\/p>\n
Report says as he takes heat for his handling of the outbreak ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games.<\/p>\n
In perhaps his biggest test since returning to office in 2012, Japan\u2019s longest-serving premier has been accused by critics of initial lack of leadership then over-abrupt steps like school closures that left parents and employers scrambling.<\/p>\n
\u201cJapan has over 1, 200 coronavirus cases including about 700 from a cruise ship, 16 people have died, including seven from the liner,\u2019\u2019 public broadcaster NHK said.<\/p>\n
Among criticisms is that Abe\u2019s government was too slow to curb visitors from China, a big source of revenue, after the outbreak originated there.<\/p>\n
In an opinion poll released by NHK, 43 per cent said they approved of Abe\u2019s handling of the outbreak, versus 41 per cent who did not.<\/p>\n
Commentators have also said Japan lacks sufficient capacity to test for the virus, while failing to mobilise what capacity it has, leading to suspicions that the virus is spreading faster than data show.<\/p>\n
Vigorous testing programmes in countries like South Korea have detected high numbers of infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cSpeculation denied by organisers is swirling that the outbreak will scupper Japan\u2019s dream of hosting the Tokyo Olympics, especially if a state of emergency is declared.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want the Olympics to succeed more than anyone, but the negative factors are increasing,\u201d Yoichi Masuzoe, a former Tokyo governor who was health minister during a 2009 influenza epidemic, told Reuters.<\/p>\n
In NHK\u2019s opinion poll, 45 per cent said the Tokyo Olympics cannot be held as planned, versus 40 per cent who said they can.<\/p>\n
The government plans on Tuesday to submit to parliament a bill to revise a 2012 law, enacted after the 2009 epidemic, so it can be applied to the coronavirus if necessary.<\/p>\n
Parliament is expected to sign off on Friday.<\/p>\n
The 2012 law was enacted while Abe\u2019s Liberal Democratic Party was in opposition.<\/p>\n
Officials have said it could not be applied to the coronavirus without changes, although opposition parties and other critics say reinterpreting it is enough.<\/p>\n
The law would let the prime minister declare a state of emergency if the disease poses a \u201cgrave danger\u201d to lives and if its rapid spread could have a huge impact on the economy.<\/p>\n
The virus is already increasing Japan\u2019s recession risk.<\/p>\n
Governors in hard-hit regions could then ask residents to stay inside, close public facilities, expropriate land and buildings for medical facilities and request or order emergency transport of goods.<\/p>\n
The state of emergency could last up to two years with a possible one year-extension.<\/p>\n
In the virus-hit northern island of Hokkaido, the governor declared a state of emergency late February, although he acknowledged there was no legal basis to do so.<\/p>\n
Abe has already requested that schools nationwide close and large-scale events be pared back or cancelled.<\/p>\n
\u201cAbe could apply the law by re-interpreting it. He\u2019s good at that,\u201d said Masahiro Kami, head of the Medical Governance Research Institute and a critic of the government\u2019s response.<\/p>\n
Abe\u2019s government in 2014 controversially reinterpreted the post-war, pacifist constitution to let troops fight abroad. \u201cHe wants to appeal to the public because things are not going well,\u201d Kami said.<\/p>\n
He added the most urgent issue was not further limits on public activities, however beefing up virus testing and early treatment of elderly and other high-risk patients.<\/p>\n
Abe has not made clear what exactly would trigger a state of emergency, repeating that the revision was to prepare for a \u201cworst-case scenario\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suspect Abe doesn\u2019t want to declare a state of emergency because it would be killing the Olympics himself,\u201d Koichi Nakano, political science professor at Sophia University, said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Japan is set this week to revise a law allowing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus if needed. Report says as he takes heat for his handling of the outbreak ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In perhaps his biggest test since returning to office in 2012, Japan\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":116963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,11,15,9,2],"tags":[52563,7463,8777],"yoast_head":"\n