SAWT BEIRUT INTERNATIONAL

| 28 March 2024, Thursday |

Support for Japan PM up as voters welcome his COVID measures

According to the Nikkei business daily, over two-thirds of Japanese voters approve Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s government, with the public applauding his anti-coronavirus efforts, which include a temporary border shutdown for new foreign arrivals.

According to the newspaper, support for Kishida’s administration has increased by 4 percentage points since the previous poll a month ago.

In the most recent poll, conducted from Friday to Sunday, 61 percent of those polled said Kishida’s anti-coronavirus measures were effective, the highest percentage since the Nikkei began polling the public for feedback on the government’s coronavirus response in February 2020.

Amid the global emergence of highly transmissible Omicron variant of coronavirus, Kishida late November announced that Japan was barring entry to foreigners for about a month. Last week, he extended the measure through New Year holidays.

Kishida took office in October, replacing Yoshihide Suga, whose one-year term as prime minister saw his support crumble as COVID-19 surged.

Japan has detected several hundreds new coronavirus cases a day in recent weeks, down sharply from more than 20,000 daily infections in the latest peak in August.

    Source:
  • Reuters