Coronavirus: Tokyo’s cherry blossoms bring thousands to parks but experts worry the worst isn’t over yet for Japan

Japanese people bow instead of shaking hands and avoid direct contact with each other, so many believe they are relatively safe from Covid-19

But health experts say Japan faces a serious risk and people are not taking the threat seriously enough

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Thousands of people ventured out to see the cherry blossoms over the weekend, but Tokyo’s governor has warned that a lockdown could be declared if people do not heed calls for social distancing. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 9:09am, 25 Mar 2020Updated: 1:42pm, 25 Mar 2020

Japanese law student Mayako Shibata is making plans to see the cherry blossoms this weekend, despite increasingly strident warnings from health authorities to stay at home.

The 23-year-old said she was washing her hands often as she does during “regular flu season” and was not concerned about getting the coronavirus given that she has no underlying conditions.

The one concession that Shibata is making to the Covid-19 disease that has so far infected well over 380,000 people globally and caused more than 16,000 deaths, is to try to steer clear of elderly people.

“I’m trying to stay away from them when I see them on the train because I know that I could be infected but that it would be far more serious for them,” she said.

Thousands of people visit Ueno Park in Tokyo to see the cherry blossoms. Photo: Reuters

Her sense of security is partly because of her location – the capital Tokyo has 14 million residents and has reported 171 cases as of Wednesday morning, about 14 per cent of the national total. Japan has had 1,214 infections and 43 deaths out of its population of 127 million people, and close to 900 patients have already been discharged from hospital. This figure excludes the Diamond Princess cruise ship that docked in Yokohama last month, where one in five people on board became infected.

In comparison, 334 infections have been reported in the South Korean capital of Seoul, which has 10 million residents, while Singapore, a city state with 5.6 million people, has more than 500 infections. Hong Kong, with over 7 million residents, has recorded more than 350 cases.

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