Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government aims to pass by week's end controversial revisions to a 2012 law governing national actions to be taken in the event of new types of influenza.
The changes, which the administration aims to pass with as much opposition approval as possible by Friday, are expected to pave the way for the national government to declare a state of emergency it says will help it respond better to the COVID-19 virus, even as it admits individual rights might be impeded.
On Tuesday, however, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that, at the moment, the situation didn't call for declaring a state of emergency.