The Abe government tries to conceal spread of new coronavirus (COVID-19) contagion, giving priority to hold the Olympic Games. The situation in the country has been deteriorated due to absence of wide-ranging examination of the public. Triggered by a rising tide of the sickness, the government decided on closure of schools across the country. Thus, confusions prevail deeply and seriously. Effective measures cannot work when a medical testing system is fragile.

POLICIES FOR GENENRAL EXAMINATION ARE BASIS OF EFFECTIVE MEASURES

It is a month and a half since the first case of COVID-19 was detected in the country. But the government of Japan would not seriously commit in prevention of spread. The government’s negligence is shown in a fact clearly that the authority has refused to extend a service of PCR (=polymerase chain reaction) test to the public. A mother exclaimed; ‘my child had a fever for days and I sincerely asked for a test to check, but the local healthcare center rejected my request’. Her grievous cry is a tip of an iceberg.

Manipulation of number of infections

As for the ominous COVID-19 outbreak, experts have pointed out that the number of tests could grossly increase if people can use the medical insurance programs and medical facilities of the private sector engage in the examination service. However, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Kato Katsunobu simply replied during the Diet debates ‘under investigation’, when he was asked by an opposition lawmaker who demanded him to tell reasons why the tests had been stifled.

In Republic of Korea (ROK) medical examinations have been conducted up to a dozen of thousands per day, and the authority has grasped the situation rightly. Meanwhile, in Japan the number of tests has been stuck at several hundreds of patients per day as of the end of February. Behaviors of the Japanese authorities imply that they want to conceal the number of infections deliberately.

The government’s real intention was reflected in the ‘measures’ announced on February 25: they enforce people ‘not to go to see a doctor without right consultation’ and to ‘stay at home if symptoms are mild’. That means the government made people not to have a test for checking.

The elderly have greater risks to their lives, even though they do not contract the new type of pneumonia. They immediately need a test. If people take a commuter train without knowing they are infected, contagion easily spreads. Screening is necessary when patients are in the initial phase of the disease.

The government wanted the situation to pose less serious: it sought to leave negative factors behind that may hamper hosting the Olympics. It has camouflaged the country’s economy though the GDP has aggravated after the surge of consumption tax rate last October. Under these circumstances the Abe government decided to close school throughout the country and told to apply the medical insurance programs to cope with the new illness. However, no scientific explanation is made why schools are closed in a uniform manner.

If a testing had been practiced in a similar way as in ROK, another arrangement would have come out on closure of school that may rationally mirror dimension of infection. A special budget of a sum 15 billion Yen is compiled, but it is too small. The ROK government has provided 1.4 trillion Yen.

Direct payment is needed

Let’s look at the Hong Kong government. Patients are treated under quarantine and their families are financially compensated. In the contagious areas citizens get gift coupons that can be used in their districts. A resident is paid in cash uniformly 140 thousand Yen. These steps are probably taken to guarantee income in an anticipation of business closure en masse.

Get back to Japan. The Abe government’s compensation policy for workers lies mainly in subsidies for firms. Judging from the current variations of employment as well as self-employed workers, a cash handout is more effective in which every worker is paid directly. In anyway a nation-wide checkup system is necessary to figure out the whole context. Without that, no measures will work.

The Abe government is committing at the moment professional negligence resulting in death as in the same way as the managers of TEPCO, Tokyo Electric Power Company, when they were accused in the wake of catastrophe of nuclear power plants.

March 10, 2020