Japan asks workers to telecommute, stagger shifts to curb virus

The Japanese government has urged companies to recommend telecommuting and staggered shifts for workers in a bid to curb the spread of the new coronavirus.

The plan, approved at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, also urged people with symptoms of cold or fever to stay at home and asked event organisers to carefully consider whether to proceed with their plans.

Japan has 159 cases of infections from the flu-like coronavirus, apart from 691 on a cruise ship docked south of Tokyo. On Tuesday, broadcaster NHK reported a fourth death among passengers.

Rather than trying to contain the disease outright, authorities are seeking to slow its expansion and minimise deaths. Telecommuting, or working online or from home, would reduce the infection risk from people gathered in one place.

The government also pledged to take stronger steps to fight contagion in regions where there are clusters of cases. In recent days, there have been confirmed infections in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and the western prefecture of Ishikawa as well as around the capital, Tokyo.

On Monday, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato convened a panel of medical experts to decide how to rein in the disease, now known as COVID-19.

However, he said it was too early to talk about cancelling the Olympics, which start on July 24, due to the spread of the coronavirus.

Japan’s J.League says it has postponed seven Levian Cup matches scheduled for Wednesday due to concerns about the outbreak and is considering postponing all domestic football games through the first half of March.

Watching markets closely

Meanwhile, Japan’s finance minister Taro Aso said he was closely monitoring market volatility, as Asian shares sank on fears the coronavirus outbreak could wreak greater economic damage than first thought.

Aso, however, declined to comment when asked about the yen’s recent declines against the US dollar.

“We’re closely watching market moves,” Aso told a news conference after a regular cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said the government was ready to act flexibly if the fallout from the outbreak on Japan’s economy warrants support for industries such as tourism.

“Concerns (over the virus epidemic) are heightening and the outlook is uncertain,” Nishimura told a separate news conference.

“We’re closely watching how much impact there could be and stand ready to take necessary steps flexibly depending on the urgency of the matter,” he said.

At their weekend meeting in Riyadh, finance chiefs of the world’s top 20 economies promised to monitor the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on global growth and act if needed.

That did little to prevent losses in Asian shares on Tuesday, with markets anxious that the coronavirus was rapidly mutating into a pandemic which could cripple global supply chains and dent global growth.

Japanese shares and the yen have been particularly hit hard, as supply chain disruptions and shrinking tourism from the outbreak heightened market expectations that the country’s economy could tip into recession.

The US dollar stood at about 110.90 yen on Tuesday.

Patient numbers could explode if the infection spreads rapidly, overburdening the healthcare system and damaging the economy, the panel wrote on the health ministry website.

“We are entering a new phase. That’s why it’s a very critical moment now,” Shigeru Omi, a panel member and president of the Japan Community Healthcare Organization, told a news briefing on Monday. “These coming weeks are very crucial.”

Passengers who left the Diamond Princess after the end of quarantine on February 19, mostly Japanese nationals, have been asked to stay at home and avoid public transport.

The United States and other countries took their citizens off the ship before the official end of quarantine.