The government of Japan on Thursday will announce the early weakening in most prefectures state of emergency, originally imposed until may 31. The return to normalcy ahead of schedule became possible on the basis of the encouraging statistics of sick and recovered. To accelerate the release of restrictions in the current week, the authorities intend to approve the use of a new rapid test to detect coronavirus in just 15 minutes.About the upcoming mitigation of the emergency situation (es) Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said early in the week, after which the TV channel NHK has informed that the decision to move to a new phase of the epidemic will be taken on Thursday. As expected, in this regard, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will make a new appeal to the nation.Currently the head of the Cabinet will finalise consultations with a panel of leading epidemiologists and economists to find an optimal balance between measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus and resume the third economy in the world, bearing serious losses due to the collapse of production and reduction of demand.A state of emergency in the leading regions of the country, including Tokyo and Kanagawa Prefecture, Saitama Prefecture, Chiba Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, Hyogo Prefecture and Fukuoka Prefecture, came into force on 8 April and a week later was extended to all 47 prefectures. The validity period of the emergency, which was due to expire on 4 may, was extended until may 31.The poll, conducted may 6 by the newspaper Mainichi Shimbun, showed that 66% of citizens are ready to continue to support the extension of state of emergency in its current format, if the government deems it necessary.However, the transition to the early lifting of restrictions was possible on the basis of the encouraging statistics: this week the daily increase in the number of cases does not exceed 100 people. In Tokyo, the largest number of infected (about 5 thousand), on the eve for the first time since March 30, this figure was only 15 people. In addition, as stated on Sunday, the health Ministry of the country, only for one day the number recovered reached a record high — more than 2.4 thousand people.After that, the General index recovered approached the psychologically important mark of 9 thousand people (since the beginning of the pandemic in the country was recorded over 16 thousand cases of coronavirus, 670 patients died).However, a return to the normal operation of the economy will depend not only on the epidemiological situation, but also from the anti-crisis measures of the government and domestic and foreign demand, which fell sharply in the context of the pandemic.So, the leading Japanese steel Corporation Nippon Steel at the end of last week was forced to suspend two of its blast furnaces in the cities of Muroran and Kitakyushu to early July (RA��it was stopped a blast furnace in Chiba Prefecture, adjacent to Tokyo). All Corporation Nippon Steel has 15 furnaces across the country.Japanese steelmakers cut production primarily in connection with a reduction in the production of the Japanese automotive industry both within the country and abroad, including the flagship of the Toyota Motor Corporation. Global sales of Toyota Motor in March decreased by 23.8% compared to the previous year.The package of measures approved earlier by the Cabinet of Shinzo Abe, is estimated at ¥117 trillion ($1.09 trillion). At the same time, according to a survey by Yahoo! 86.3% of Japanese supported the initiative of the government to pay every citizen by ¥100 million (about $930). According to another survey conducted in early may by the Agency Kyodo, the level of support for Prime Minister Abe and his government rose by 1.3 points compared to April, amounting to 41.7 per cent.Despite the planned easing of restrictive measures, the authorities make it clear that the situation remains difficult to talk about the victory over coronavirus yet. As stated on Monday the Minister of health, labour and welfare Katsunobu Kato, “by may 10, it was revealed 250 foci of infection” (where cases of infection were confirmed in five and more persons). As can be seen from his speeches in Parliament, most local centers identified in hospitals.One of the crucial steps that should lead to final victory over the epidemic will be the introduction of a new rapid test to detect coronavirus in just 15 minutes. “We hope that the decision on possibility of use of this test will be made within weeks. Currently, studies of its effectiveness”,— said on Monday on a press-conferences the Secretary General of the Cabinet of Ministers of Yoshihide Suga.As explained by the developers, the new test will allow us to detect in the human coronavirus antigens against which the immune system produces antibodies. The study will be carried out in hospitals (currently PCR tests are done in laboratory conditions and within a few hours). However, refusal the more accurate PCR tests are not doctors are going to combine different types of testing to achieve maximum results.Another Japanese know-how should be created in the country a vaccine for the coronavirus. “Clinical trials of the vaccine developed by the staff of the Tokyo and Osaka universities and other public research centres to commence in July,”— said on Monday, speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister Abe. Earlier, NHK television station announced the government’s plans to provide for the development of a vaccine against COVID-19 more than $800 million Sergey Strokan
