Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga vowed this morning to get the pandemic under control and hold the already postponed Olympics in July with ample COVID-19 protection.
While opening a new Parliament session, Suga said his government would revise laws to make anti-virus measures enforceable with penalties and compensation.
Early in the pandemic, Japan was able to keep its virus caseload manageable with non-binding requests for businesses to close or operate with social distancing and for people to stay home.
But recent weeks have seen several highs in new cases per day, in part blamed on eased attitudes toward the anti-virus measures, and doubts are growing as more contagious variants spread while people wait for vaccines and the Olympics draw closer.
Suga said his government aims to start vaccinations as early as late February.
More than 95 million cases have been recorded worldwide with more than 2 million deaths.
[Source; TV NZ]
