TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Saturday guaranteed an unprecedented bundle of actions to cushion the world’s third-biggest economy from the coronavirus pandemic, stating the country was close to a nationwide emergency situation as infections rose.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds a news conference on Japan’s action to the coronavirus illness (COVID-19) break out, at his main home in Tokyo, Japan, March 28,2020 REUTERS/Issei Kato
Abe said the “big, powerful” steps will include fiscal stimulus, monetary steps and tax breaks for companies, though the information have not been completed.
” We are in a crucial stage. We need to be ready for a long-term fight,” Abe said in a nationally telecasted news conference, including: “I wish to be simple about that.”
Infections in Japan have climbed to more than 1,500, with 52 deaths, leaving out those from a cruise liner quarantined last month, according to public broadcaster NHK.
Authorities confirmed a further 60 cases in Tokyo and on Saturday announced 57 brand-new coronavirus cases at a center for the disabled in Chiba prefecture near the capital, NHK said.
Struck early by the coronavirus in its initial spread from China, Japan had seen a more steady increase than the current surge in much of Europe and the United States that has actually caused lockdowns of billions of people around the world.
Abe kept back from declaring a state of emergency situation though he announced plans to authorize the drug Avigan that has actually proved handy in trea