Govt. Still Cautious Despite Drop In New Cases
Japan's government says it's still cautious about the country's coronavirus outbreak, despite a recent drop in new infections in the capital.
Tuesday marks three weeks since the government declared a state of emergency.
Tokyo saw the number of daily confirmed cases drop below 100 for two days in a row, with 72 cases on Sunday and 39 on Monday.
But government officials say the numbers of cases reported on weekends and Mondays tend to be lower.
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo told a meeting of senior officials from his governing Liberal Democratic Party on Monday that the pace of infection seems to be slowing. But he said he is still not optimistic.
Abe said he will continue to ask people to refrain from non-essential travel, even if it means they will be deprived of what otherwise would be an enjoyable spring holiday period, which lasts until May 6.
The government is calling on people to help achieve its target of slashing person-to-person contact by 80 percent in a bid to contain the outbreak.
It believes that infections spread from cities to rural areas when people traveled during a 3-day holiday in March.
