Japan has no plan to declare state of emergency from April 1

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe holds a news conference on Japan's response to the COVID-19 outbreak, at his official residence in Tokyo, March 28, 2020. /Reuters

Japan's top government spokesman said on Monday there was no truth to rumors the government was planning to declare a state of emergency from April 1 to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga also told a news conference that an expected phone meeting between Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization, had nothing to do with any decision on whether to call a state of emergency in Japan.

Abe held back from declaring a state of emergency during a nationally televised news conference on Saturday, but warned that the country was close to a national emergency as infections surged.

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The prime minister promised an unprecedented package of steps to cushion the world's third-biggest economy from the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the "huge, powerful" measures will include fiscal stimulus, monetary steps and tax breaks for companies.

"We are in a critical stage. We need to be ready for a long-term battle," Abe said. "I want to be straightforward about that."

Last week the International Olympic Committee announced the decision to postpone the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games until the summer of 2021 due to the outbreak.

The pandemic had infected nearly 1,900 people in Japan, with 56 deaths, as of Sunday afternoon. Those numbers excludes 712 cases and 10 deaths from a cruise ship that was moored near Tokyo last month, public broadcaster NHK said.

As fears of a Tokyo lockdown grew, 68 new coronavirus cases were reported in the capital for Sunday, a record daily increase.

A woman wearing a protective face mask waits for a trafic signal near blooming cherry blossoms in a snow fall in Tokyo, Japan, March 29, 2020. /Reuters

The Asahi newspaper reported on Monday that Japan will step up its efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus by banning the entry of foreign citizens traveling from the United States, China, South Korea and most of Europe.

Non-Japanese citizens who have been in any of these areas in the past two weeks will be barred, the paper said.

Tokyo may also ban travel to and from some countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, it said, citing unidentified government sources.

(With input from Reuters)

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