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Sunday, April 05, 2020, 19:34
Nishimura: Japan won't hesitate to declare emergency if needed
By Agencies
Sunday, April 05, 2020, 19:34 By Agencies

Customers visit a wet market to buy food in Singapore on April 4, 2020, with some people wearing facemasks due to concerns over the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. (ROSLAN RAHMAN / AFP)

SINGAPORE / MUMBAI / DUBAI / RIYADH / MELBOURNE / JERUSALEM / WELLINGTON / TOKYO / SEOUL / PHNOM PENH / NEW DELHI - Japan will not hesitate to declare a state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic if there is any sign of an explosive spike in infections, Japan’s Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said.

“We’ve been saying that we are on the brink of the brink, but it’s becoming a very tense situation,” Nishimura said during a Fuji Television broadcast Sunday. “Nationwide rampancy of virus infections is really approaching just right now.”

Hiroshi Mikitani, founder of Japan’s e-commerce giant Rakuten Inc., on Friday joined the call for Abe to declare a state of emergency. The prime minister told parliament Friday that the situation didn’t yet warrant an emergency declaration, but said he wouldn’t hesitate to do so when the time comes.

We’ve been saying that we are on the brink of the brink, but it’s becoming a very tense situation. Nationwide rampancy of virus infections is really approaching just right now

Yasutoshi Nishimura, Economy Minister, Japan

ALSO READ: South Korea extends intensive social distancing for 14 days

Japan's health ministry and local governments said Sunday the number of COVID-19 infections nationwide had risen to 3,506 cases as of 10:30 am local time here, an increase of 367 cases from a day earlier.

The death toll in Japan from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 96 people, according to the health ministry, with the figure including those from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama, close to Tokyo.

Of the 3,506 confirmed COVID-19 infections in Japan, Tokyo has confirmed 891 cases. The capital reported 118 new cases on Saturday, the first time the daily increase has topped 100.

Osaka Prefecture recorded 387 COVID-19 cases, Kanagawa Prefecture 238, Chiba Prefecture 235, Aichi Prefecture 221 and 193 cases have been recorded in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, the figures showed.

Singapore

Singapore’s health ministry reported 75 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, the city-state’s biggest daily increase, as local infections spiked.

Singapore has reported a total of 1,189 infections and suffered six deaths from the global pandemic.

Australia

Several Australian health officials said on Sunday they were cautiously optimistic about the slowing spread of coronavirus in the country but warned social distancing restrictions are to stay in place for months.

Confirmed cases rose by 181 during the 24-hour period to early Sunday, bringing the national total to 5,635, health ministry data showed. The death toll from COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, rose to 34.

This suggests the daily rate of infections was below 5 percent, about a fifth of what Australia saw in mid-March.

South Korea

South Korea reported 81 more cases of the COVID-19 compared to 24 hours ago as of midnight Sunday local time, raising the total number of infections to 10,237.

Six more deaths were confirmed, lifting the death toll to 183. The total fatality rate came in at 1.79 percent.

A total of 138 more patients were discharged from quarantine after making full recovery, pulling up the combined number to 6,463.

New Zealand

New Zealand government believed that the country can put COIVD-19 under control, as the country reported 89 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, making the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,039 in the country.

Director-General of Health Dr. Ashley Bloomfield from New Zealand Ministry of Health gave the update at a daily COVID-19 press conference. According to Bloomfield, New Zealand reported 48 new confirmed and 41 new probable cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, bringing the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,039 in the country. Fifteen people are currently in hospital, including three people in ICU. Altogether 156 people have recovered and one person died from the disease.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the number of the COVID-19 cases in the country is steady. She believed the national lockdown is working and making a difference. "Going hard and going early appear to be paying off for us," Ardern said.

Israel

A total of 423 people in Israel were tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 7,851, the Israeli Ministry of Health said.

The ministry also announced four new deaths from the novel coronavirus, raising the death toll to 43.  

Of the 734 patients being treated in hospitals across Israel, 126 were in serious condition and 165 in moderate condition.

Of the other 7,074 patients, 4,663 are treated in home quarantine, 702 in hotels converted into treatment facilities, 458 have recovered, and the remaining 1,251 will be treated at home, hotel or hospital according to decisions to be made soon.

Cambodia

One more COVID-19 patient in Cambodia has recovered, bringing the total number of patients cured in the country so far to 50, said a Ministry of Health (MoH) statement released on Sunday.

The latest discharged patient is a 62-year-old Malaysian Islamic preacher, who was treated at the Kampong Cham provincial hospital, the statement said.

"To date, 50, or 43.85 percent, out of the 114 COVID-19 positive patients in Cambodia have recovered," MoH's secretary of state and spokeswoman Or Vandine said in the statement.

She said the remaining 64 patients have been receiving treatment at various designated hospitals.

According to the spokeswoman, no new COVID-19 case was detected in the kingdom on Saturday. 

India

Authorities in some India states warned on Saturday that lockdowns to rein in the coronavirus pandemic could be extended in parts of the nation as the number of domestic coronavirus cases rose above the 3,000 mark.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered a three-week lockdown of India’s 1.3 billion people on March 24 to avert a massive outbreak of infections.

But the world’s biggest shutdown has left millions without jobs and forced migrant workers to flee cities to their villages in search of food and shelter.

India's federal health ministry Sunday morning said the death toll due to COVID-19 in India rose to 77 and the total number of confirmed cases in the country reached 3,374.

“If people don’t obey the rules seriously and cases continue to rise, then there may be no option but to extend the lockdown,” Rajesh Tope, the health minister of Maharashtra state, told Reuters. “It could be extended in Mumbai and urban areas of Maharashtra by two weeks.”

Authorities have already set up 200-plus containment zones and sealed off building complexes or streets in Mumbai, where cases have been identified.

Iran

A senior Iranian health official said the greater Tehran area may face a coronavirus resurgence after many residents flouted advisories to stay home, crowding streets and causing traffic jams across the city as the country’s New Year holidays ended on Saturday.

Iran - the Middle East country worst-hit by the epidemic -said earlier on Saturday that 158 more coronavirus patients had died in the past 24 hours, bringing the total death toll to 3,452. The total number of cases reached 55,743.

“We are still concerned about the virus, for example with the level of traffic in Tehran today and queues of cars stuck on freeways, because these people can take the virus to their homes or workplaces,” Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said on state TV.

“Even a medium level of virus here can spread to nearby cities with the high level of job-related traffic between nearby cities and Tehran,” said Harirchi, who has himself been ill with COVID-19.

“Dr Harirchi cautioned about a probable return of coronavirus in case of negligence and said social distancing measures were absolutely necessary,” said the TV.

The United Arab Emirates

Dubai imposed a two-week lockdown Saturday night and Saudi Arabia sealed off parts of the Red Sea city of Jeddah as Gulf states tightened measures in big cities to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Dubai had been under an overnight curfew along with the rest of United Arab Emirates since March 26 but its Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management said the lockdown would now run around the clock for two weeks, state news agency WAM said.

In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, the authorities announced a lockdown and a partial curfew in seven neighbourhoods of Jeddah also starting on Saturday as part of measures to contain the outbreak, the interior ministry said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia is the country worst hit by the pandemic in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) group of Arab oil monarchies. It had reported 2,179 cases of confirmed infections up until Saturday and 29 deaths.

READ MORE: Singapore to close schools, most workplaces amid virus

The United Arab Emirates, where infected cases have jumped by 840 since April, also extended its de facto overnight curfew indefinitely to disinfect public areas by spraying streets, parks and public transport facilities.

The oil-rich federation has reported an uptick in coronavirus cases with several hundred people diagnosed since April 1 and a total number of cases of 1,505.

On Saturday, UAE reported 241 infections and one death over the past 24 hours, taking the total confirmed cases to 1,505 and the death toll to 10, according to government tweets.

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