I recently came across an article posted on May 27, 2020, on the topic regarding the stance of the Japanese government facing the COVID-19 pandemic and on the \u201cMysterious Mystery\u201d of how Japan has limited the numbers of outbreak. Today, I would like to cover specifically on the subject.<\/p>\n
How has Japan avoided a large outbreak even without conducting a large number of testing (the number of testing Japan did is only 4% of that of Italy) and \u201cno enforcement\u201d for closing or reduction of operation by non-essential businesses? Western journalism regards this as a \u201cMysterious Mystery.\u201d They are seeking answers, but yet to find the reason on how Japan was able to contain the outbreak in such a limited time.<\/p>\n
As the COVID-19 outbreak spread throughout the world, Japan was also affected by this devastating pandemic. On April 7, Prime Minister Abe declared a state of emergency in seven prefectures: Saitama, Chiba, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka. On April 16, he extended it to nationwide. On May 14, the nationwide State of Emergency was lifted except for eight prefectures: Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Kyoto, and Hyogo. Prime Minister Abe finally lifted the state of emergency for these prefectures on May 25. <\/p>\n
Despite the population of Japan being roughly 126 million, Japan has suffered about 17,000 confirmed cases and 900 deaths, avoiding a large outbreak compared to the United States or some European countries. Within the G7, Japan had the lowest cumulative numbers of new infections with 0.2 weekly (as of June 1, 2020) for every 100,000 people. To achieve this the Japanese government specifically put in place the following measures to contain the outbreak.<\/p>\n
1. Provision and sharing of information <\/strong><\/p>\n Provide the public with accurate information and clear message on the following points in a timely manner, promote awareness\u2014raising to help change people\u2019s behavior\u2014and call for calm response. <\/p>\n \u2022 the infection situation and the medical information 2. Surveillance and information gathering<\/strong> <\/p>\n \u2022 Identify suspected disease carrier and conduct tests that the doctors consider necessary. 3. Pandemic prevention <\/strong><\/p>\n \u2022 The prefectures under Specific Cautions requested cooperation in refraining from leaving home to \u201creduce the contact among people by 70% at a minimum or 80% ideally.\u201d (Activities necessary for maintaining daily life and health\u2014such as visiting hospitals, purchasing food, medicine and daily necessities, going to workplaces as necessary, exercising outdoors or taking a walk\u2014are excluded.) <\/p>\n Although a \u201clockdown\u201d (city blockade) has not been taken in Japan, I truly believe that the main factor came from each individual\u2019s self-awareness in preventing the spread.<\/p>\n Now Japan is moving toward to creating a new norm for the recovery from the pandemic, while maintaining balance with prevention of the spread of infection and taking into account the situation of infection and the capacity of medical service system in the region, gradually increasing the level of socio-economic activities. By implementing the measures under the \u201cEmergency Economic Measures for Response to COVID-19\u201d (Cabinet decision April 20, 2020), including the supplementary budget for fiscal year 2020, nationally and locally, the Japanese government will work to prevent the spread of infections, strive to maintain employment, continue business, and support people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n Ono Kazuhiko (Special to the Saipan Tribune)<\/strong> I recently came across an article posted on May 27, 2020, on the topic regarding…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":321680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 the medical service system and test system
\n\u2022 the establishment of the \u201cnew lifestyle\u201d that prevents the spread of infection, including avoiding \u201c3 Cs\u201d (closed spaces, crowded places, and close-contact settings) and basic counter-infection measures such as keeping distance, wearing a mask, and washing hands
\n\u2022 to refrain from leaving home when feeling sick
\n\u2022 the fact that a \u201clockdown\u201d (city blockade) will not be taken.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Strengthen the testing system by utilizing local and private institutes. Introduce new testing technology promptly in the medical field. Promote the utilization of private testing institutes. Grasp the PCR testing system and make necessary coordination. <\/p>\n
\nOno Kazuhiko is the Japanese consul on Saipan.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"