TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a forceful appeal to the nation on Friday to stay indoors to avoid further coronavirus contagion, in his starkest remarks since the crisis began.
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wears a protective mask after a news conference at the prime minister’s official residence in Tokyo, Japan April 17, 2020. Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via REUTERS
New cases hit a daily record in the capital, Tokyo, before the speech in which Abe said this week’s nationwide expansion of a state of emergency was prompted partly by fear that medical services could fail in rural areas home to many elderly.
“Please avoid going out,” Abe said, adding that reductions in person-to-person contact in Tokyo and Osaka, two of Japan’s hardest-hit regions, were still well short of targeted levels. “Everything depends on the action of each individual.”
Abe, who has seen his support hit over his handling of the pandemic, also apologised for confusi