TOKYO (AFP, REUTERS) - Japan's government on Tuesday (March 10) approved draft "state of emergency" measures that would allow the authorities to keep people inside and commandeer buildings for hospitals, as Tokyo steps up its fight against coronavirus five months before the Olympics.
If approved by Parliament, the draft Bill would give Prime Minister Shinzo Abe the power to declare a state of emergency and impose drastic measures but Tokyo stressed that the situation had not yet reached that point.
"Currently, we are not in a situation where we need to declare a state of emergency," top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga told reporters on Tuesday.
The virus has infected more than 500 people across Japan and been linked to nine deaths. Its spread has cast doubt over whether the Olympics can open as scheduled on July 24, although the authorities insist planning is continuing as normal.
Unlike neighbouring South Korea, Japan has not undertaken widespread testing and the Abe government came under heavy fire for its handling of the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked near Tokyo, where nearly 700 people eventually became infected on board.
Tokyo has said the coming few weeks will be crucial in slowing the spread of the coronavirus and Mr Abe has urged schools to close for several weeks, in an announcement that caught the whole country off-guard.
The Bill approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday is a revision of a 2012 law aimed to slow the spread of new strains of flu and is expected to sail through Parliament this week with opposition support.
Under the new law, once the prime minister declares a state of emergency in a specific part of the country, local governments can require residents to stay indoors, close schools and limit the use of facilities in which large numbers of people gather.
Land and buildings could be requisitioned as makeshift hospitals.
Mr Abe has said that even though Japan is not yet seeing an epidemic over a wide area, "it is important to always prepare for the worst case".
With the new legislation, the government can take similar steps against the new coronavirus for up to two years.
Separately, Mr Abe has pledged an emergency financial package to tackle the outbreak.
The government will unveil on Tuesday a second package of steps to cope with fallout from the coronavirus outbreak, with a focus on financial support for small businesses, said Finance Minister Taro Aso.
The government will tap the remainder of this fiscal year's budget reserve, worth some 270 billion yen (S$3.6 billion), to finance the package. Mr Aso shrugged off the need to compile a bigger extra budget, saying that the fallout in Japan from the global coronavirus outbreak is not akin to a Lehman Brothers-like crisis.
"We need to ascertain the current situation first. At this stage, there's no saying" whether the government needs an extra budget, Mr Aso told reporters after a Cabinet meeting.
Subsidies to parents who must take leave because of closed schools, and beefing up medical facilities will be among the other steps featuring in the package.
"Financing will focus on small and tiny businesses who face the need of financing over the next two to three weeks," said Mr Aso.
The financial watchdog has urged credit associations and regional banks to conduct hearings with small businesses about their financial situation, he added. More than 111,600 people have been infected by the coronavirus globally and over 3,800 have died, as the outbreak caused more global economic disruption, undermining
Japan's export-led economy teetering on the edge of a recession. The spread of the coronavirus epidemic has prompted heavy selling of riskier assets by investors and a scramble into assets such as the yen, which are perceived to be safer havens during times of financial distress.
