TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s capital recorded more than 70 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for its highest tally in a single day, as pressure mounted on the prime minister to order a lockdown.
FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Finance Minister Taro Aso attend the regular session of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, January 20, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Japanese cases topped 2,000, and public broadcaster NHK said 78 cases in Tokyo took its tally of infections past 500. Media reports said 7 people in the city had died, five at one hospital.
“This is the greatest increase up to now and is certainly of high concern, and I’m worried about what tomorrow’s figures might show,” Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said.
A government spokesman said Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told cabinet members he and his second-in-command, Taro Aso, would no longer attend the same meetings to protect the leadership from infection. But the two were later shown at the same gathering – although wearing masks and sitting apart.
Last week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was obliged to switch to running the country from isolation after testing positive for the virus.
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