Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he's preparing to declare modern Japan's first-ever state of emergency as early as Tuesday — in response to a sudden increase in coronavirus cases in major cities.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a plenary session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo on Friday. Abe says he will declare a state of emergency this week in response to the coronavirus pandemic.Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe speaks during a plenary session at the upper house of parliament in Tokyo on Friday. Abe says he will declare a state of emergency this week in response to the coronavirus pandemic.in response to a sudden increase in novel coronavirus cases in the capital, Tokyo, and several of the country's other major cities.
The declaration, which falls under a law revised just last month in response to the pandemic, would allow governors of hard-hit prefectures to issue stay-at-home directives to contain the spread of the potentially deadly disease. Even so, Japanese law specifies no punishment for those who do not comply and does not grant the authority to ban business activity.
Without the threat of coercion to back it up, the declaration of an emergency would rely on voluntary compliance. Tokyo has already called on residents to avoid nonessential travel, and surrounding prefectures haveBefore the recent spike in Tokyo, northernmost Hokkaido prefecture had the most cases, and its governor
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