- So behind me is a sign pointing to the number
of days until the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games
on July 24th, here in Tokyo,
- [Reporter] The Japanese government has stepped up measures
to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Tokyo expects hundreds of thousands of people
from all across the world when it holds the Olympics
in less than five months.
- The next couple of weeks are critical
in keeping this virus in check
and preventing any kind of large-scale outbreaks
or clusters from developing, at say, a concert or a school
where you might get hundreds of people infected.
- [Reporter] Most schools across Japan are closed.
Some Cherry Blossom Festivals are canceled.
(starting-gun bangs)
Then the Tokyo Marathon went ahead
with only 200 runners
instead of the more than 30 thousand participants
it usually draws.
- Prime Minister Abe, and everybody in his government,
wants to make sure that the virus is cleared away
and not a major problem,
so that the Olympics can go ahead as scheduled.
- [Reporter] The postponement or cancellation of the Games
would be a massive blow to Japan.
It has spent seven years planning
and 20 billion dollars on preparations.
In order to keep the games going,
Tokyo has to prove that it can
stop the spread of the disease,
especially after having been criticized
for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak
on a cruise ship that was docked at Yokohama.
More than 700 people
got infected aboard the Diamond Princess,
and six have died so far.
Tokyo said it did its best
to prevent the spread of the disease.
That's not the only criticism Japan has faced.
- The number of tests being conducted everyday in Japan
is about 900 or 1000 a day, recently.
Whereas, for example, in South Korea,
thousands, and tens of thousands of tests
are being conducted every day.
- [Reporter] Abe says there are now 4,000 test kits
available every day.
Minus the Diamond Princess patients,
there have been about 300 cases in Japan so far.
- Japan, at the moment,
appears to have the virus under control,
but maybe the addition of more tests
will reveal that there are more virus cases than we thought.
- [Reporter] Particularly because the virus
is no longer linked
to people who came from overseas virus epicenters,
such as China, Italy, or Iran.
- In the last couple of weeks,
it's become clear that it's spreading independently
in parts of Japan,
especially in Hokkaido, in Northern Japan.
And so, clearly, a stepped-up response was needed.
- [Reporter] The government hopes the new measures
will help avert an outbreak
such as the one in neighboring South Korea,
and help set the stage for the Olympic Games.
It also needs to reassure the public
that it's taking all the needed steps
to stop the virus.
- There is the political,
or you might say psychological benefit
that Prime Minister Abe is clearly counting on here.
In the sense that
he wants to show that he's a decisive leader,
he's not taking this lightly,
that he's doing whatever it takes
to stop this virus from spreading.