Japanese PM faces mounting pressure over pandemic response

Tuesday, 26 January 2021 00:18 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Yoshihide Suga, Japan's prime minister, speaks during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan - Reuters

TOKYO, (Reuters): Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga faced renewed pressure yesterday over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, with a new opinion poll showing many believed the government was too slow to respond to the latest wave of infections.

Opposition lawmakers were also increasingly frustrated with Suga’s taciturn leadership style, demanding he provide detailed answers to questions about the COVID-19 crisis and the Tokyo Olympics set to start in less than six months.

Suga is struggling to halt a steady decline in support for his four-month-old government even after launching a raft of measures to contain a third wave of coronavirus infections with the Olympics due to begin on 23 July.

Support for Suga’s cabinet dropped to 33% from 39% last month, with disapproval rising 10 points to 45%, according to a poll published by the Asahi newspaper yesterday.

The poll conducted by telephone on the weekend showed 80% of respondents thought the government was too slow to declare a state of emergency in response to the coronavirus outbreak which has swept the country since December.

Critics also say Suga took too long to pause a domestic tourism campaign that experts have blamed for contributing to the spread of the virus beyond the initial hotspots in the Tokyo region.

Yoshihito Niki, an infectious disease specialist and professor at Showa University Hospital, agreed the government should have halted the campaign earlier.

“It is clear that was problematic, not just because it may have contributed to a rise in case numbers by people travelling around the country, but also by giving young people an impression that they could lower their guard,” he said.

The government says its decision to stick with the domestic tourism campaign was appropriate based on infection data at the time.

Infection data released over the weekend indicated that Japan’s third, and most deadly, wave of COVID-19 infections was peaking.

Tokyo reported 618 new cases yesterday, with daily cases dropping below 700 for the first time since 28 Dec. 2020.