FILE PHOTO: Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks wearing a face protective mask during a news conference as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Tokyo, Japan, May 14, 2020. Akio Kon/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
May 25, 2020
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that the state of emergency will be lifted for all of Japan, and that the country managed to get the spread of the virus under control in under two months.
Social distancing curbs were loosened for most of the country on May 14 as new infections fell, but the government has kept Tokyo and four other prefectures under watch.
The world’s third-largest economy has escaped an explosive outbreak with more than 16,600 infections and 839 deaths so far, according to NHK public broadcaster.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka, writing by Elaine Lies; Editing by Toby Chopra)
