TOKYO — After weeks of criticism that Japan was bungling its reaction to the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took the drastic step on Thursday of asking all the country’s schools to close for about a month.
With the number of cases steadily rising and Japan suddenly confronting talk that the Tokyo Olympics may have to be canceled, Mr. Abe is eager to show that he is moving aggressively to control the virus.
The move to shut schools, which would make Japan one of a few countries, including China, to suspend classes nationwide, appeared to be an abrupt reversal of the more cautious stance the administration had taken on the virus. READ MORE