It has been estimated by the NLI Research Institute that the COVID-19 state of emergency, if implemented through the end of May, would result in the loss of 700,000 jobs, leaving nearly three quarters of a million people without paychecks and their families insecure.
In contrast, the number of people infected with the new coronavirus in Japan remains low — at around 16,000 so far with roughly 800 fatalities. If a new report on the Japanese Red Cross Society's antibody testing of donated blood is correct (0.6 percent showing COVID-19 antibodies), the fatality rate from the new coronavirus in Tokyo is about 0.26 percent.
About 1.2 million people die in Japan every year. No matter how hard people try to obscure the reality, death remains a part of daily life. Then what are we afraid of in regard to the pandemic, what do we seek to achieve, and where society will be led?