‘Japan model’ has beaten coronavirus, Shinzo Abe declares

Prime minister Shinzo Abe has declared victory for the “Japan model” of fighting coronavirus as he lifted a nationwide state of emergency after seven weeks. Speaking at a press conference on Monday evening in Tokyo, Mr Abe said that Japan had avoided an explosive increase in cases without the compulsory lockdowns used in Europe or the US. The ending of the state of emergency in the last five prefectures it covered — Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba and Hokkaido — will mean that the world’s fourth-largest economy can start to reopen for business.