Two months after Japan confirmed its first case of COVID-19, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is finally setting up a legal framework that will let him declare a nationwide state of emergency if the outbreak worsens.
Like many of Abe's responses to the crisis — from restricting visitors traveling from virus-hit areas to bolstering the local mask supply — the introduction of the state-of-emergency legislation comes long after other leaders took similar action.
The delays have fueled doubts over whether Japan is prepared to act decisively enough to be capable of holding the Tokyo Olympics — the world's largest sporting event — in July.
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