Japan’s recently established Coronavirus Task Force hosts meetings that last no longer than 15 minutes. Meeting once each day, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe often leaves the meetings early.
Abe’s cabinet established the Task Force on the 30 January, and is intended to handle the novel coronavirus Covid-19. Initially it was concerned with the rising threat of the disease in China and worked to extract Japanese nationals from the Wuhan where the outbreak began – but they have been dragging their heels.
Japan’s Health Minister, Katsunobu Katos, had maintained that epidemiological science had not done enough to show that infections were growing across the country as recently as 13 February.
Two weeks later on 27 February Abe has taken his first decisive step in curtailing the virus. All schools across Japan will be closed from 2 March until the end of the spring break – typically the end of March.
The LDP hope this step will be taken as an indication of their strength in tackling the disease, but the truth is that their response has been stodgy, elusive and distant. And a lot of the blame has fallen at the feet of Shinzo Abe.
Abe rarely makes it through the full length of the discussion in the daily task force meeting and often leaves early – after reporters have captured his presence at the event.
Nikkan Gendai, an evening paper in Japan, tracked Abe’s movements after the meetings and found they were often curtailed to accommodate dinner plans. On February 14 Abe celebrated Valentine’s Day by flitting from the task force and dining with the president of Nikkei, Japan’s premier business newspaper.
