The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, requested another 10-day postponement over all major events to tackle the COVID-19 outbreak in the land. (Image via Euronews)

Abe requests another 10 days of event postponements amid COVID-19

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
News Flash Japan
Mar 11, 2020
1381
On Tuesday, the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, requested the organizers of major sport and cultural events in Japan be postponed for 10 more days. Even worse, they could be canceled. The request came after the Japanese government admitted that they would require more time to contain the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak in the land.

The request came a day after a government panel of medical experts said that Japan should not be relaxing even though being able to stem a surge in domestic infections.

Speaking at a meeting of a government task force on COVID-19, Abe said that Japan is entering an important time to prevent any rapid outbreak of COVID-19. Therefore, the PM requested cooperation from the major event organizers to postpone any event for 10 days. Moreover, Japan will also thicken its border control.

Previously, Abe made the same request on 26 February, said that the panel required “a week or two” to curb the domestic infections.

While the request by Abe is not legally binding, it could lead to cancelations and postponements. These could hurt Japan’s tourism sector and slow activity that will hurt the Japanese economy even more which is already on the edge of recession.

The government is seeking passage of a bill that would enable Abe to declare a state of emergency if necessary, meaning that the government could cancel or put off events if necessary.

Source: https://bit.ly/337BT8N

Politics , Regulation , Postponement , Cancelation , Medical , Health , Disease , Pulmonary , Outbreak , Pneumonia , Coronavirus , COVID-19 , Asia , Japan , Shinzo-Abe