VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

Finally, Japan declared war on Covid-19. Midnight, Tuesday April 7, 2020. Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe decided on Covid-19 national emergency after holding a meeting with all elements of the government. Consideration of the implementation of the national emergency is the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic which greatly affected Japanese  people and economy. To carry out a national emergency, the central government will cooperate with Governors in the seven existing regions. The enactment of a national emergency is also based on the fact that the COVID 19 Corona pandemic is expanding. As of Sunday (5/4), in total there were more than 3900 cases of Covid-19 in Japan. On Tuesday 7 April, the death toll was 92.

Previously doctors in Tokyo had warned the government that the situation was already critical because hospital capacity to accommodate COVID 19 patients  was running low.

The national emergency will prevent residents from leaving the house and closing down  places of business for a period of about one month. Governors are also entitled to use community facilities for handling patients and those detected as affected by COVID 19. The use of public transportation will not be reduced in number but the volume of passengers is tightly regulated. The government will regulate the distance between one passenger and another in public transportation.

Regarding the national emergency policy adopted by the central government, economic observers in Japan are concerned about the impact. To overcome this, the Government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued a stimulus package worth 108 trillion yen, or about 20 percent of gross domestic product.

At last, Japan recognized the impact of the global COVID 19 pandemic. Like other advanced industrial countries, the decision to lockdown or a national emergency would cause a slowdown in economic growth. Japan may not fall into an economic recession, but when the pandemic has passed, the Shinzo Abe Government must strive to revitalize the country's economic growth and maintain the level of welfare of its people.