Tokyo, Japan Photo Credit: nicholashan for Adobe Stock
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TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga says he plans to submit legislation that will make coronavirus measures legally binding for businesses, punish violators and include economic compensation as his government struggles to slow the ongoing upsurge.
Japan had a state of emergency in April and May with nonbinding requests for people to stay home and businesses to close, but people have become complacent about the pandemic and store owners have become less cooperative due to the economic impact.
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Suga said experts are discussing the legislation to make coronavirus regulations more effectively enforced and hoped to submit the bill for parliamentary approval "as soon as possible" next year.
Suga also reiterated his request for the public to spend "quiet" year-end and New Year's holidays, and stick to mask-wearing and hand-washing amid concerns of a new variant of the coronavirus that has spread in Britain and has been detected at airports and in Tokyo last week.
Japan is barring entry of all nonresident foreign nationals from Monday through Jan. 31 as a precaution against a new and potentially more contagious variant.
Suga's government has been unable to slow the ongoing upsurge of the infections despite his requests for basic preventive measures.
His government has been criticized for delaying measures for weeks due to apparent reluctance to hurt the pandemic-hit economy, with recent media surveys showing a nearly 30-point decline in his support ratings since he took office in September.
Japan has 220,236 cases, with 3,252 deaths as of Sunday, the health ministry said.