Prefectural governors largely welcomed Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's decision Thursday to expand the state of emergency to the entire nation beyond Tokyo, Osaka and five other prefectures in the stepped-up fight against the coronavirus outbreak.Meanwhile, the business sector criticized the move as coming out of the blue, concerned the impact from the pandemic will be even bigger on their operations, given the nationwide emergency declaration.The declaration should raise awareness of the importance of avoiding nonessential outings and strengthened authorities under the declaration would help c…READ FULL ARTICLE
