- So behind me is a sign
pointing to the number
of days until the opening
ceremony of the Olympic Games
on July 24th, here in Tokyo,
- [Reporter] The Japanese
government has stepped up measures
to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Tokyo expects hundreds
of thousands of people
from all across the world
when it holds the Olympics
in less than five months.
- The next couple of weeks are critical
in keeping this virus in check
and preventing any kind
of large-scale outbreaks
or clusters from developing,
at say, a concert or a school
where you might get
hundreds of people infected.
- [Reporter] Most schools
across Japan are closed.
Some Cherry Blossom
Festivals are canceled.
(starting-gun bangs)
Then the Tokyo Marathon went ahead
with only 200 runners
instead of the more than
30 thousand participants
it usually draws.
- Prime Minister Abe, and
everybody in his government,
wants to make sure that
the virus is cleared away
and not a major problem,
so that the Olympics can
go ahead as scheduled.
- [Reporter] The postponement
or cancellation of the Games
would be a massive blow to Japan.
It has spent seven years planning
and 20 billion dollars on preparations.
In order to keep the games going,
Tokyo has to prove that it can
stop the spread of the disease,
especially after having been criticized
for its handling of the
coronavirus outbreak
on a cruise ship that
was docked at Yokohama.
More than 700 people
got infected aboard the Diamond Princess,
and six have died so far.
Tokyo said it did its best
to prevent the spread of the disease.
That's not the only
criticism Japan has faced.
- The number of tests being
conducted everyday in Japan
is about 900 or 1000 a day, recently.
Whereas, for example, in South Korea,
thousands, and tens of thousands of tests
are being conducted every day.
- [Reporter] Abe says there
are now 4,000 test kits
available every day.
Minus the Diamond Princess patients,
there have been about 300
cases in Japan so far.
- Japan, at the moment,
appears to have the virus under control,
but maybe the addition of more tests
will reveal that there are more
virus cases than we thought.
- [Reporter] Particularly
because the virus
is no longer linked
to people who came from
overseas virus epicenters,
such as China, Italy, or Iran.
- In the last couple of weeks,
it's become clear that it's
spreading independently
in parts of Japan,
especially in Hokkaido, in Northern Japan.
And so, clearly, a stepped-up
response was needed.
- [Reporter] The government
hopes the new measures
will help avert an outbreak
such as the one in
neighboring South Korea,
and help set the stage
for the Olympic Games.
It also needs to reassure the public
that it's taking all the needed steps
to stop the virus.
- There is the political,
or you might say psychological benefit
that Prime Minister Abe is
clearly counting on here.
In the sense that
he wants to show that
he's a decisive leader,
he's not taking this lightly,
that he's doing whatever it takes
to stop this virus from spreading.
