Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s flagship measure took a blow from the novel coronavirus Monday when he announced the Go To Travel campaign would be suspended nationwide for two weeks over the year-end holidays.

Plummeting public support, growing political opposition and experts sounding the alarm drove Suga to suspend the campaign, while the virus itself seemed, at most, a secondary factor.

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, leaders have sought to stimulate the economy while containing the virus in a two-track policy that would, each time cases began to surge, be reluctantly rolled back in small steps.