The novel coronavirus outbreak that began from China has spread globally and is forcing countries to take aggressive measures to protect their population. Japan being no exception to the effects of the virus is continuously seeing a surge in its COVID-19 cases.
Japan had its first case of the virus in mid-January and became the first country outside China to report human to human transmission among people with no history of traveling abroad. It was speculated that Japan would see a surge in the number of infected patients soon due to its close proximity to China.
Many people in Japan began hoarding face masks, hand sanitizers and toilet papers. By the end of February Hokkaido became the first prefecture to announce an emergency, followed by shutting down of schools all over Japan until the first week of April. Also, many offices and other institutions announced work from home. As a countermeasure sanitizers started appearing outside many public spaces and 7 out of 10 people were seen wearing masks in the public.
Then on March 11 WHO declared COVID-19 a global pandemic and soon after a new law was passed by the Japanese cabinet.
By March 13 Prime Minister Abe was granted special permission to declare a state of emergency as and when required under the new law. While the rest of the world began declaring emergency lockdowns Japan’s Hokkaido observed a decrease in the number of virus patients.
On the streets of Tokyo by march 23, many youngsters could still be seen enjoying themselves in the restaurants, kids could be seen playing around and people were celebrating Hanami. The number of people wearing masks significantly reduced .
Beginning from mid-January, Japan has remarkably been able to keep the numbers low in comparison to South-Korea, Italy, Iran or elsewhere but how?
Well, I believe one needs to understand the Japanese culture in order to unravel this secret. Japanese people in general, maintain distance from others and do not get touchy. Though in the case of youngsters this social distancing cultural concept can still be argued. Social distancing due to cultural aspects has definitely kept the pace of the spread low with lesser transmissions than the rest of the world.
Being in Japan for the last three years and observing the crisis since January there are two important things I must mention.
What bothers me the most is that many people here live alone. If someone does fall sick he/she might self-treat while spreading the virus and staying unreported.
Also, Japan has an aging population. As per the record more than 60% of people are above the age of 65 years. That's considerably a very high number and there are chances that people might die in their houses unreported. With nobody to take care of old people who have been living alone for years it is not unusual in Japan to recover someone's dead body weeks after death.
Just like the rest of the world Japan’s economy is dependent on consumption. With already a big loss from Olympic games being postponed, Japan’s economy is under threat.
The government has perhaps already delayed the emergency enough. It has considered the economy above this highly contagious infection for the longest time.
Surely an emergency is on its way but nobody knows what else is coming along but until then stay safe, stay at home, don’t panic, and be proactive.
Yorumlar