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Japan to disband panel of coronavirus experts after criticism

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"I don't remember accurately

oh yeah, I used to say that as a child when I felt trouble was near

31 ( +33 / -2 )

"Media have also reported that the panel refrained from saying in a March statement that the virus could be transmitted from asymptomatic people - those with the virus who do not show symptoms - as the government asked it not to do so to avoid causing panic."

This is why I don't trust the Japanese government, especially with relation to Covid 19.

23 ( +25 / -2 )

Just another case of treating the public like children.

23 ( +23 / -0 )

The only thing the government has prevent is testing and thus knowing the full scale of infections. The official information and numbers are a scam. And BTW, MRI scanning in hospital is booked for months ahead because of lung scans for COVID-19. A family member who had a stroke got the earliest date for an MRI in mid December.

20 ( +26 / -6 )

Its amazing. I saw TV shows and movies regarding killer viruses and the government and police keep the general public out of the loop, but I thought it was just Hollywood. Now I can see that governments globally will keep us as ignorant as possible. Ignore the so called experts and trust your gut.

19 ( +23 / -4 )

If this panel of experts bowed to the will of the Abe and his group of do nothings, can you imagine what the new group will come up with. Expect to hear and see far more rosy and business friendly recommendations from the new panel!

19 ( +20 / -1 )

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet on the response to the coronavirus after criticism of its transparency and lack of independence.

But that's the Governments Forte, lack of transparency and independence. No minutes taken of meetings? That's normal under this administration.

See else where on this page 40% of those who needed help still have not, the response as usual is murky and provides little information and less action.

18 ( +19 / -1 )

I don't remember accurately. There could have been such remark.

This is such a cowardly statement.

As leader of the panel of experts, it’s literally his job to know what all the accurate information is and communicate as such.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

"I don't remember accurately. There could have been such remark. But that's not the only factor in deciding whether or not to put in the line,"

Yeah, these guys are DEFINITELY going to be more transparent when the new team... ummm... which the government again puts together itself, is assembled.

14 ( +18 / -4 )

They should put the guy from Kobe, that exposed the folly on the Yokohama docked cruise liner, on the next panel.

14 ( +15 / -1 )

It's been widely reported in the vernacular media that factional infighting at the top of the LDP over the Abe succession has destroyed communication and paralysed governmental decision-making since last December.

It's a small miracle that anything of worth has been achieved given the total shambles that passes for a government in this country.

13 ( +13 / -0 )

nothing else for me to say. you guys have pretty much summed everything up

10 ( +12 / -2 )

It's a small miracle that anything of worth has been achieved given the total shambles that passes for a government in this country.

Alfie Noakes, that's the most wonderful assessment I've ever heard...but never mind...

The LDP still seems to be following the Trump route of if you don't test, you don't get bad news. That's the reason I didn't take the JLPT. If I don't test, who's to say I don't have perfect Japanese skills?

8 ( +9 / -1 )

"About a month has passed since the lifting of the state of emergency, and maintaining a balance between infection prevention and social and economic activities has become the thrust of our responses," Therein lies the reason why; Suga said it himself. Abe wants to do a trump and focus more on the economy so it won't be surprising if the new panel is made up more of experts with economic or financial backgrounds and not public health. The science of the virus and containing it will not change so it's just a matter of changing to a more pliable mouth piece who will spew what the government wants to disseminate to the public. As for not keeping minutes of the meetings that were conducted, you can bet your horse and house that it was a directive from the government. Remember, it's the likes of Nishimura, Kato, and Abe who will direct, and implement policy, not the pubic health committee. If this panel is not true to the science and facts of the virus, it could have dire consequences in the very near future.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

I don’t remember is the norm in Japan. Those who committed a crime don’t remember a thing!

the people we trusted to help us end this COVID-19, Don’t remember a thing! Who remembers anything?

7 ( +7 / -0 )

No doubt this panel of experts were putting people’s health over Nippon Kaigi telling Abe and Aso what to do. They were not playing by the rules of supporting everything these two goons wanted. As a result, they are to be replaced with true yes-men.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

Alfie NoakesToday  08:43 am JST

It's been widely reported in the vernacular media that factional infighting at the top of the LDP over the Abe succession has destroyed communication and paralysed governmental decision-making since last December.

It's a small miracle that anything of worth has been achieved given the total shambles that passes for a government in this country.

If nothing else, this suggests that countries are better off in most ways when the government minimises its interference in our lives. This has happened in Japan by accident and not by design, unfortunately.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

There is no difference between parties and no difference between so-called democracies and dictatorships. They're all evil, lying SOB's.

4 ( +10 / -6 )

Folks,

If this doesn't wake you up to what the LDP does in Japan NOTHING will!!

This is why I have been harping from the get go that we have NO IDEA of what is or isn't happening as far as Corona is concerned.  It should be crystal clear to all that the govt is clearly lying to us.

No surprise for me the LDP ever since taking power after WWII has been constantly Lying, Cheating & Stealing from the people of Japan!! These attitudes permeate EVERYTHING in Japan, all of govt, the entire economy etc etc

When you can see how the "media" tows the govt line & doesn't do their job its clear how the govt exerts control over people here. Toss in the culture of bowing to authority & here were are

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The beauty of all these debacles is that people will once and for all see the ruling regime for what it really is. Supremely incompetent to the hilt.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Never trust anything the government publishes for covid. The goal of the government is to make themselves look good, they care nothing about the people and general health.

Japan is closer to an oligarchic authoritarian government than a democracy as the education doesnt support democracy and power is concentrated among a few select political families.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

The big problem with this panel of experts was that its views were deliberately hidden by the government. Unlike other panels of experts, no formal record was made, a point which infuriated the opposition parties in the Diet. Also evidence is just emerging that those summaries of views that were produced were deliberately edited and weakened by the government before release, to fit in more with government policy.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

"Japan is to disband a panel of medical experts advising Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's cabinet on the response to the coronavirus after criticism of its transparency and lack of independence"

Do I feel that there is some sort of cover up about to happen?

"Japan has been spared the kind of explosive coronavirus outbreak seen elsewhere, with some 18,000 cases and 969 deaths"

Yer, right! I bet the true figure is much higher, since if we don't test hardly any one, those figures of C19 are much lower than they would be.

"The panel's independence from government influence has come into question and Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Wednesday it would be disbanded and a new one created with a broader range of specialists"

Why would you do this? is it that the government didn't like what these experts were telling them?

"it kept no minutes of its discussions" Very sloppy admin, very poor for a group of highly intelligent people.

"as the government asked it not to do so to avoid causing panic" why has the government covered this up? the general public should know all about asymptomatic people, I cant see there being a total melt down they should be informed and educated so they can understand.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Oh my this is so predictable. There were nor enough lifetime bureaucrats so cancel it.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Blahblah

Never trust anything the government publishes for covid.

If you think it is limited to covid then you have not been paying attention.

The general rule is believe nothing.

How about the unemployment rate, do you believe it.?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Japan has been spared the kind of explosive coronavirus outbreak seen elsewhere

It amazes me how the media here conveniently doesn't mention that testing is few hence the figures are low.

It is not rocket science that any country even the U.S or Brazil will return low numbers if they test at the rate Japan is testing.

It is ridiculous that a country like Bahrain with a population of 1.7M has performed almost the same number of test like Japan.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Unfortunately, it isn't possible, the mainstream media as well needs t be ban, they are nothing but PR mouthpiece, fan club of the government.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

As one Reddit user put it, the panel would like you to believe that at-will testing in outdoor open-air tents, car-based drive-up testing, and visiting a special room in hospitals would cause a spike in coronavirus cases. They also believe that for some reason "hostess bars" are the leading cause of infectious spread.

But nevermind that home delivery prostitution is legal in Japan, no mention of that.

Never mind that, twice a day, places like Shinjuku station pack in millions of people within 2 inches of each other.

But nevermind that existing conditions are being recorded as the "technical" cause in death certificates being posted on social media

If you believe the numbers coming out of Tokyo right now you're a very silly bastard

1 ( +4 / -3 )

''Media have also reported that the panel refrained from saying in a March statement that the virus could be transmitted from asymptomatic people - those with the virus who do not show symptoms - as the government asked it not to do so to avoid causing panic.''

...the result is some idiots still not following mask etiquette because they still don't understand the importance of it.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Well well well. I used to work for NIID.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

From my old days, I once had the problem of publishing my results because the gov. said the public might not be ready to hear the results...it was published eventually...

I dont believe this: "kept no minutes of its discussions". They always kept minutes when I was there!!!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

How could they be EXPERTS when we never heared of Mr COVIT - 19 untill early this year .

I thought to be an expert you got to be involved with the matter for a minimum of 20 years?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Now I can see that governments globally will keep us as ignorant as possible.

The public do a pretty good job of keeping themselves ignorant by taking what the media says as Bible. It's not hard to look around and take the numbers (worldwide) in proper perspective and NOT overreact like we've seen up until now.

I deplore the LDP in many aspects, but in this case I'm glad they haven't turned Japan into a full-blown military state like other, increasingly fascist, governments around the world...

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Blame someone! Trump blamed China.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

I think it's a great idea to get a broader range of minds and a fresh new start. Let other experts have a say. Was the last panel some sort of table of the gods? No, just men and women with opinions. Why not let others have a go?

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

The outgoing panel deserves general praise alongside critical reviews. As the final decision is always made by political leaders, panel members were not responsible for the specific course of action and whatever outcomes. Besides, the panel was formed in ad hoc status, holding limited function and authority as an advisory body.

-12 ( +11 / -23 )

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