Weekly Update: News on Japan & the Netherlands – Week 25, 2020

“We’d like to consider measures for utilizing antibody tests and (holding) further antibody surveys,” said Kato. The health ministry conducted the survey between 1 and 7 June, targeting residents aged 20 and above. It aimed to estimate how many people could become infected if a second wave occurs and how many would need vaccination.

The ministry initially sought to collect samples from 10,000 people in total. In Japan, antibody tests have also been conducted in the private sector and by sports organizations, including the Japan Sumo Association. SoftBank Group Corporation has tested some 44,000 people, including its employees and medical workers, with 0.43% found to be positive.

The rate was 1.79% among medical workers and 0.23% among employees at SoftBank group companies and their clients. It also showed some had antibodies despite having tested negative in the PCR test.

Business people such as executives will be given priority, with students and then tourists set to follow. Other countries on Japan’s entry ban list, including China, South Korea and the United States, may be taken off later depending on the situation, the sources said.

“It’s important for Japan to play its role in maintaining and developing free trade,” Nishimura said at the start of the panel’s inaugural meeting Wednesday, apparently showing his concern over a rise in protectionism amid the pandemic.

Those on day trips will be given discounts and coupons worth up to ¥10,000. In addition to individual trips, group trips such as those by schools and companies will also be covered by the campaign. The contractor will undertake major work, including briefings for related business operators, promotional activities and the issuance of hundreds of millions of coupons.

Also yesterday, the health ministry approved the use of antigen tests to confirm negative cases rather than repeated polymerise chain reaction (PCR) tests. Antigen tests, produced in Japan by a subsidiary of Miraca Holdings Inc, deliver results in 10-30 minutes, compared with up to six hours for a PCR test.

The falls by nation were pronounced. Exports to the U.S. plunged by more than 50% and those to Australia declined 59%. Imports from the U.S. fell nearly 28% while those from Australia were down 29%. Trade with China was recovering to last year levels, with exports and imports both down about 12%.

Japan has already slid into recession, defined as two straight quarters of contraction. The world’s third-largest economy had already slowed in the final quarter of last year before the virus reached a pandemic scale. The current quarter, through the end of June, is expected to show another contraction.

The Japanese government has announced massive bailouts to businesses and cash handouts to prop up the economy. It has also reopened the economy, allowing stores, amusement parks and restaurants to go on as before, while requesting seats be placed farther apart and people wear masks.

To look up information on border controls and travel restrictions in all Member States, the European Commission has launched the Re-open EU site and app.

“The current government is facing major dilemmas,” said Pieter Hasekamp, director of CPB. “During the recovery phase, we need a managed withdrawal of state support, but the measure to which the government can withdraw depends on the speed of the recovery.”

If there is a second wave GDP would decrease also in 2021, with unemployment rising to 10% and public debt increasing to over 75% of GDP,’ the agency said. The CPB’s forecasts, which have a key role when ministers draw up their budgets for the coming year, are roughly in line with those published by Rabobank earlier this month.

With the support of all left-wing opposition parties, the proposal has a chance of success. GroenLinks has previously argued for a minimum ticket price, following Austria. There the lower limit of 40 euros is a condition for state aid to the airline Austrian Airlines.

In the Netherlands, KLM will also receive billions of euros in support to overcome the consequences of the corona crisis, the cabinet has announced. Conditions will also be attached to this, although it is not yet clear what these exactly are.

The corona crisis also has consequences for the housing market. According to the report, there is a risk that people may become more reluctant to buy a home, making it less likely for investors and developers to invest in new home construction. Minister Ollongren points out that in the previous crisis of 2008 we saw that the demand for housing returned quickly, while the effects on construction can have a long lasting effect.

On 16 June, newspapers wrote that a group of 27 housing corporations in the major Dutch cities are pushing 23.4 billion euros into the construction and renovation of social rental housing, including making them more sustainable, over the next 5 years. The amount is over 3 billion euros higher than in the previous 5 year period, De Vernieuwde Stad, a partnership of the corporations, announced.

With this money, the corporations can build 52,000 new homes and renovate or increase the sustainability of 238,000 homes, compared to 47,000 new homes and 251,000 renovated houses in the previous period.

According to the corporations, the main obstacles in their way to further expand construction and renovation are the increase in construction costs and the high tax burden. If the landlord levy, for example, was scrapped, the housing corporations could build an extra 20,000 homes, they said.

“The basis of the policy is based on a distance of 1.5 meters. That is really the backbone of our anti-coronavirus policy. I think the country is too small and that it cannot be explained if you allow differences in that,” added Bruls.