‘Japan needs to be on high alert as COVID-19 cases rise’, says economy minister
The nation’s number of COVID-19 infections has spiked in the past week, with Tokyo reporting more than 200 cases for three straight days.
The nation’s number of COVID-19 infections has spiked in the past week, with Tokyo reporting more than 200 cases for three straight days.
Japan's Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, found that his well-intentioned, much-derided emergency care package of face masks for every household to mitigate the effects of the pandemic was in tatters after tens of thousands of defective items sent to expectant mothers were returned by local governments. What was initially intended as a thoughtful gesture, and which cynics dubbed Abenomask as a ploy to improve the Abe administration's approval ratings, left the government with an additional 800 million yen ($7.46 million) bill to inspect all the returned items on top of the 46.6 billion yen it earmarked for the project.
Abe's government plans to lift the state of emergency in 39 of the country's 47 prefectures, while keeping the measure in place for eight prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Hokkaido.
With the two firms accounting for almost two-thirds of global chip production, the issue is raising concerns about the impact on the supply chains across the planet.
"We are deeply concerned about Iran's announcement" on Sunday, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasutoshi Nishimura said at a news conference here. "We strongly urge Iran to abide by the nuclear agreement, immediately return to its commitments and refrain from taking steps that would damage the accord."
Around half of the money has been claimed by a dwindling number of survivors or their families.
