Japan’s coronavirus outbreak remains relatively contained so far, but number of cases would likely break 2,000 handle this week. Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, insisted that there is no need to declare a state of emergency for now. He also warned of the “huge” impact on the economy with a lockdown of major cities like Tokyo and Osaka.
On the other hand, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi urged Japanese not to travel to 73 countries and regions, around a third of the world. “Level 3” travel warnings were issued against the US, Canada, China, South Korea, UK as well as many countries in Europe. Also, he indicated that the government will likely ban entry of non-Japanese nationals from the newly added countries, as with others.
A batch of February economic data was released today, but the pre-pandemic data carry little significance for now. Industrial production rose 0.4% mom, down from January’s 1.0% mom. Retail sales jumped 1.7% yoy, versus January’s -0.4% yoy. Unemployment rate was steady at 2.4%. Jobs-to-applicants ratio dropped slightly from 1.49 to 1.45.
