Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a nationally televised news conference, said that, Japan is lifting the nationwide emergency. He was quoted as saying in an AFP report as saying, ”We had very stringent criteria for lifting the state of emergency. We have judged that we have met this.”
Compared with hard-hit areas in Europe, the United States, Russia and Brazil, Japan has been spared the worst of the pandemic, with 16,581 infections and 830 deaths. And for this very reason the worlds third-largest economy, while reopening has also earned caution, going ahead to avoid another wave of infections.
A state of emergency was declared on April 7 with cases beginning to spike and fears for the country's health system. Initially, the emergency was limited to Tokyo and six other regions—later expanding it to cover the entire nation.
Schools and businesses were asked to shut down while people were asked to remind home. However, there was no punishment for those flouting the rules.
The orders were largely followed.
With the number of infections falling form 700 a day nationally to just a dozen per day, the emergency was lifted for much of the country last week. But, the government opted to wait before removing the measures in the capital and surrounding areas, as well as hard-hit northern Hokkaido.
Abe lauded Japan's success in flattening the curve, saying the country ”was able to show the strength of the so-called Japan model”. Abe added that he still wants people to avoid the ”three Cs—closed spaces, crowded places and close contact”.
Individual prefectures have the power to impose restrictive measures as deemed necessary. Tokyo plans to reopen in three phases starting with schools, libraries, museums, and longer service hours for restaurants.
In a statement, tech giant Apple said that they planned to open stores in Japan this week. The statement also read that stores plan to maintain temperature checks at the door, social distancing as well as the use of masks for customers and staff.
