The Japanese government is considering a period of six months for the state of emergency that it is preparing to call in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
With new cases of the coronavirus rapidly increasing in Tokyo and other cities in Japan, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that he would declare a state of emergency in seven prefectures that include the country’s largest population centers.
Mr. Abe, whose country faces a deep recession as the virus hinders trade and tourism, also announced an economic stimulus package worth nearly $1 trillion. He said that the government would suspend $240 billion in tax and social security payments and pay about $55 billion to households whose incomes have been affected by the pandemic.
The seven prefectures to be covered by the state of emergency, which Mr. Abe said would last about a month, are Chiba, Fukuoka, Hyogo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Saitama and Tokyo. Within the six-month period, these prefectures would decide the length of time for their individual measures.
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same country that said the Olympics would go ahead this year. People need to let go of things that used to be considered the norm.