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MAVRK55 and several frens-tanker party southwest out of Offutt AFB Omaha
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Japan quietly reopens as much of world locks down
Spared a national curfew, businesses weigh health and economic risks. NAGASAKI/TOKYO – Businesses and schools in Japan are gradually moving out of a voluntary shutdown called for by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last month, as the coronavirus crisis brings into focus the question of how to balance the economy and public health.
In Nagasaki Prefecture, the Dutch-themed resort Huis Ten Bosch reopened on Monday, but visitors are asked to wear masks and no one with a temperature higher than 37.5 C is admitted. Only outdoor attractions are open for now.
Experts say such safety measures could become a permanent feature at shopping centers and other high-traffic locations as the fight against the coronavirus drags on, with a vaccine seen as months away.
Huis Ten Bosch's decision illustrates the difficult choice faced by schools and businesses closed three weeks after Abe's Feb. 27 public appeal – which stopped short of locking down wide areas of the country, as Italy has done. Economic pressure is especially intense in smaller cities and rural areas, which have been hit hardest by the sudden grounding of tourism, even as Abe's own medical experts point out that the number of cases is still on the rise and that the risk of rapid spread remains.
On Thursday, the government's panel of coronavirus experts made an interim assessment of the situation in Japan, saying the outbreak has been kept under control – but only barely. Still, the panel advised the government to allow the easing of restrictions in places where no new cases have been reported.
In the northern island of Hokkaido, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country, Gov. Naomichi Suzuki announced that a three-week state of emergency would be lifted on Thursday. Citizens had been advised to stay home and not go out on weekends.
Along with China and South Korea, Japan was among the countries hit earliest by the coronavirus outbreak, before it advanced to Europe and North America, where it is still spreading. New York City recently announced the closure of schools and shutdown of restaurants, while the U.K. finally announced school closures on Wednesday. On Wednesday, the U.N.'s International Labor Organization issued a dire warning that the coronavirus could cause the loss of as many as 25 million jobs worldwide and drain up to $3.4 trillion in income this year. Abe's request prompted the cancellation of professional baseball games, soccer matches, trade shows, symposiums, parties, corporate meetings and business trips. But no curfew has thus far been imposed on outings, as in Italy or France, or in China's Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak.
The tourism industry is among the sectors impacted most severely by the coronavirus crisis in Japan, amid a sharp fall in travelers from within and from outside the country. Extended closure is seen as the death knell for theme park operators like Huis Ten Bosch.
https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Coronavirus/Japan-quietly-reopens-as-much-of-world-locks-down