About 70 percent of parents are worried about the impact the nationwide school shutdown due to the coronavirus outbreak is having on their children, a survey by a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization showed recently.
Respondents cited children's mental stress from changes to their daily routine as well as insufficient exercise among their major worries, according to the online poll by Florence, a government-approved child welfare aid group, which surveyed 8,339 parents from March 6 to 9.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe late last month called on all elementary, junior high and high schools across the country to close through early April, forcing parents to find ways to keep their children occupied at home.