Japan is set this week to revise a law that would allow Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to declare a formal state of emergency over COVID-19, if needed, as Abe faces persistent criticism for his handling of the outbreak ahead of the Tokyo Olympic Games.
In perhaps his biggest test since returning to office in 2012, Japan’s longest-serving prime minister has come under fire for what critics have called an initial lack of leadership, followed by abrupt steps, such as school closures that left parents and employers scrambling.
Japan has more than 1,000 cases of the virus, including about 700 from a cruise ship quarantined near Tokyo last month. Fourteen people have died, including seven from the liner.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Among criticisms is that Abe’s government was too slow to put curbs on visitors from China — a key source of economic growth — after the outbreak originated there late last year.
In a recent opinion poll, 50 percent of respondents said they did not approve of Abe’s handling of the outbreak, versus 37 percent who said they did.
Commentators have also said that Japan lacked sufficient capacity to test for the virus, while failing to mobilize what capacity it has, leading to suspicions that the virus is spreading faster than data show.
Vigorous testing programs in countries such as South Korea have detected high numbers of infections.
Speculation — denied by organizers — is swirling that the global outbreak would scupper Japan’s dream of hosting the Tokyo Olympics, an outcome that could become more likely if a state of emergency is declared.
“I want the Olympics to succeed more than anyone, but the negative factors are increasing,” said Yoichi Masuzoe, a former Tokyo governor who was minister of health during a 2009 influenza epidemic.
In its latest move, the government plans to submit to parliament today a bill to revise a 2012 law, enacted after the 2009 epidemic, so that it can be applied to the coronavirus if necessary.
Parliament is expected to sign off on Friday.
The 2012 law was enacted while Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party was the opposition party.
Officials have said that it could not be applied to COVID-19 without changes, although opposition parties and other critics say reinterpreting it is enough.
The law would let the prime minister declare an official state of emergency if the disease poses a “grave danger” to lives and if its rapid spread could have a huge impact on the economy.
The impact of the outbreak is already increasing Japan’s risk of recession.
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.
The state of emergency could last up to two years with a possible one year-extension.
“Abe could apply the law by re-interpreting it. He’s good at that,” said Masahiro Kami, head of the Medical Governance Research Institute and a critic of the government’s response.
“He wants to appeal [to the public] because things are not going well,” Kami said.
The most urgent issue was not further limits on public activities, but beefing up virus testing and early treatment of elderly and other high-risk patients, he added.
Abe has not made clear what exactly would trigger a state of emergency, yesterday repeating that the revision was to prepare for a “worst-case scenario.”
“I suspect Abe doesn’t want to declare a state of emergency, because it would be killing the Olympics himself,” said Koichi Nakano, a political science professor at Sophia University.
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