While Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike has urged residents in the capital to work from home, and the nation appears to be inching toward declaring a state of emergency over rapid spread of COVID-19, the government seems set to maintain business as usual — at least for now.
There’s one problem; continued use of the government buildings where critical decisions are made is at odds with its message to avoid the “three Cs” — closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places with many people nearby and close-contact settings in which close-range conversations take place — where clusters of COVID-19 cases tend to be found.
In the government’s bid to curtail halt the spread of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration has started this week to incorporate social distancing in its meetings, following criticism on social media that Cabinet members at the government’s coronavirus task force meetings sit close together.