Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe yesterday defended his call for schools across the country to close over COVID-19, an abrupt decision that stunned officials and parents.
The move, announced on Thursday, came as the country is stepping up its response to the virus and the operator of Tokyo’s Disney resorts said that its two parks would close for about two weeks — the latest in a string of closures.
Abe’s surprise move prompted criticism, with officials saying that they had not been consulted and parents questioning how to balance work with the sudden lengthy school holiday.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Abe defended the plan, saying that the government “received expert views that the coming one or two weeks are crucial.”
“We have to prevent emergence of a new cluster of patients among children,” he told lawmakers.
The government cannot order schools to shut, a power that belongs to local councils, but authorities in many regions said that they were neither consulted nor warned about the decision.
“This is shocking news,” Chiba Mayor Toshihito Kumagai said on Twitter. “How will parents who are medical workers or doing other jobs that support society manage? Society could collapse.”
The move affects elementary schools and high schools, but nurseries and after-school clubs that also cater to children during holidays would stay open, raising questions about the efficacy of the policy.
“I’m really angry about this decision, which won’t do anything to protect children,” one mother of two told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity. “What are we supposed to do? Leave them alone at home, send them to a daycare ... leave them with grandparents? I wish the government had thought this through more.”
Another mother said that she was “in shock.”
“My company doesn’t offer telecommuting, so I’m going to have to take days off,” she added. “Financially, it’s very difficult.”
However, others were more understanding, with Miho Matsuno, a mother on maternity leave, saying that measures to contain the virus were necessary.
“I think that we have to do the maximum possible, even if it seems excessive,” she told reporters.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was