Japan’s premier asks businesses to cut physical attendance to stem virus surge

By Riyaz Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Amid the continuous spread of COVID-19 in Japan, the country’s prime minister Thursday asked big businesses to cut down their physical attendance by at least 70%.

The move aims to halt further spread of the deadly infection which has infected more than 1.2 million people in Japan with the capital Tokyo one of the hardest-hit regions. Around 15,501 people have died in the country.

“I would like to ask for your cooperation in promoting teleworking to curb the flow of people and prevent cluster infections in the workplace,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told Japan Association of Corporate Executives, Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.

A day earlier, Suga had made a similar appeal to Japan Business Federation, the country’s largest business body.

Japan has imposed a state of emergency in several provinces, including Tokyo, which reported 5,534 new coronavirus cases Thursday, to stem the spread of the infection.

The business leaders asked the government to facilitate business transactions that do not require face-to-face contact.

They also demanded the government should make “anti-body cocktail treatment” widely available.

Through anti-body cocktail treatment, the COVID-19 patients are administered casirivimab and imdevimab intravenously which “lowers the risk of hospitalization or death by about 70%,” the report said. Casirivimab/imdevimab is an artificial "antibody cocktail" drug designed to produce resistance against the coronavirus.

The Japanese government said that at least half of the country’s 126 million people have taken the first dose of the vaccine.

Suga's government may also offer a third “booster” shot to medical workers to increase their anti-bodies against the COVID-19.