Tokyo records most new coronavirus cases in a day as pressure for lockdown builds (updated)

Koshidaka Holdings Co

31/03/2020 06:11

* Shinzo Abe and 2nd-in-command Taro Aso to avoid joint
meetings 
    * Domestic cases top 2,000; calls for state of emergency
    * 'We're barely holding it together' - economy minister
    * Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
open
https://tmsnrt.rs/3aIRuz7 in an external browser

 (Releads with most cases in single day for Tokyo)
    TOKYO, March 31 (Reuters) - Tokyo recorded more than 70 new
coronavirus infections on Tuesday for its highest tally in a
single day, as pressure built on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to
order a lockdown with a minister saying Japan's containment
strategy was stretched to the limit.
    Domestic cases topped 2,000, and public broadcaster NHK said
78 cases in the Japanese capital took its tally of infections
past 500.
    A government spokesman said Abe told cabinet members he and
his second-in-command, Taro Aso, would no longer attend the same
meetings, a move to protect Japan's leadership from infection
that could hamper its battle on the virus.
    Last week British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was obliged
to switch to running the country from isolation after testing
positive for the virus.
    Abe's move came as Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said
Japan was not yet in a situation that required a state of
emergency, triggering a potential lockdown, although the
situation was precarious. 
    "We're just barely holding it together," Nishimura told
reporters. "If we loosen our grip even a little, it wouldn't be
surprising to see a sudden surge (in cases)."
    Infections have now exceeded 770,000 worldwide, with more
than 37,000 deaths, as confirmed cases in the United States,
Italy and Spain overtake mainland China, where the virus
originated late last year. 
    In Tokyo, there has been intense speculation that a lockdown
could come soon, fuelled by rising numbers of domestic cases.
    The national total edged past 2,000 infections after a
centre for disabled people in Chiba prefecture, east of Tokyo,
found seven more infections. There have been 59 deaths, a tally
by national broadcaster NHK shows.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nT9N286054
    With limited testing for the virus, doubts linger in Tokyo
about how widely it has spread.
    About 7.1% of nearly 64,000 respondents said they had at
least one virus symptom, such as high fever or a bad cough,
between Friday and Monday, according to a survey of users in
Tokyo and neighbouring prefectures run by popular chat app Line
 3938.T  and the health ministry.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nT9N286058
    Such symptoms do not by themselves prove infection. But the
4,500 people who reported symptoms in the survey was markedly
higher than Tokyo's official figure of 443 infections by Monday,
stirring comment on social media.
    
    NO BINDING LOCKDOWN
    Only last Tuesday, with a lockdown already in the offing,
Japan and Olympic authorities gave in to intense pressure from
athletes and sporting bodies worldwide to delay Tokyo's 2020
Summer Games for a year, because of the pandemic.
    Some businesses in the capital are moving to curtail
operations even ahead of a lockdown. On Tuesday landmark
department store operator Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings Ltd
 3099.T  said it would close six stores in Tokyo on weekends
through April 12.
    Koshidaka Holdings  2157.T , an operator of karaoke and hot
spring outlets, said it would close 200 karaoke outlets until
April 13. 
    But any lockdown in Japan would look different from
mandatory measures in some parts of Europe and the United
States. Laws limit local authorities to requesting people to
stay home, which are not binding.
    Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has asked residents of the
capital to avoid unnecessary outings, while her counterpart in
the second biggest city of Osaka feels the national government
should declare a state of emergency, media said.
    The government said it would seek data from wireless
carriers, such as statistics on crowd traffic, to help gauge the
effectiveness of the voluntary request.
    A director of Japan's top organisation of doctors urged that
an emergency be declared before it was too late.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2BN2T6
    Development of medicines and vaccines would be crucial to
contain the virus, Abe told Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director
general of the World Health Organization, in a telephone call on
Monday. 
    Japan intends to promote clinical research on an anti-flu
medicine called Favipiravir with other countries as a treatment,
Abe said.
    The drug, also known as Avigan, was developed by Fujifilm
Holdings Corp  4901.T , shares of which closed up 2.2%, after
having risen as much as 6.6% in Tokyo.

    <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Coronavirus: Knowns and unknowns    https://reut.rs/2UHIgvz
Coronavirus spreads in China and beyond    https://emea1.apps.cp.extranet.thomsonreuters.biz/cms/?navid=919104201
GRAPHIC-Tracking and explaining the new coronavirus https://tmsnrt.rs/2GVwIyw
     https://tmsnrt.rs/2GVwIyw
FACTBOX-Coronavirus deaths worldwide       ID:nL4N2AY3AS 
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>
 (Reporting by Takashi Umekawa, Rocky Swift, Kaori Kaneko, Sam
Nussey, Linda Sieg, Elaine Lies, Junko Fujita and Makiko
Yamazaki
Editing by Kenneth Maxwell and Clarence Fernandez)
 ((Takashi.Umekawa@thomsonreuters.com))