The following is excerpted from an interview with Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato.
Measures to cope with the novel coronavirus should primarily maintain a balance between the prevention of further infections and promoting economic activities. Closely assessing influenza outbreaks in the upcoming season, we will build systems to provide appropriate medical services, such as tests and treatments, and secure vaccines against the novel coronavirus by the first half of next year.
Concerning the government's Go To Travel campaign for assisting tourism-related industries, trips departing from and heading for Tokyo were added to the subsidized coverage starting Oct. 1.
In addition, Go To Eat campaign for assisting eating establishments and other measures for stimulating demand for events and shopping will be implemented one by one. Through these measures, we aim to stimulate consumer demand, including in provincial regions.
In measures against the coronavirus, I deeply felt how digitization has been left behind. I will promote digitization not only in bureaucratic offices but also in the private sector. Supplies of masks and other goods excessively relied on overseas resources, so these goods were not sufficiently provided to the public. I will put concentrated efforts from a point of view of rebuilding our supply chains.
In the wake of the spread of the coronavirus, we liberalized online medical examinations for patients' first consultations. Prime Minister [Yoshihide] Suga instructed Health, Labor and Welfare Minister [Norihisa] Tamura to make the change permanent, and the health ministry is considering practical actions. We want to tackle this issue from patients' standpoint and what kind of medical services can give them relief.
The administration of [former Prime Minister Shinzo] Abe was dubbed as "high presence of the administration and low presence of our party," [meaning most policy decisions were made under the initiative of the Prime Minister's Office], but we had firmly maintained communications with the ruling parties. Also, under the Suga administration, we want to be united with a view that the government and ruling parties should realize necessary goals in unity.
The prime minister has expressed his stance to have contact with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un without setting any preconditions over the issue of abduction of Japanese nationals. Though circumstances surrounding North Korea have been changing, it is important to be ready for opportunities even in usual times so that we can take advantage of them without failure.
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