According to a person close to him, the Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has tested positive for COVID-19, causing him to postpone a trip to Tunisia to attend a significant conference on African development.
The source, who asked to remain anonymous because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said that Kishida, who had just returned from a week-long vacation, would start working from his home on Monday and would participate in the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) online.
The prime minister started having a cough and fever on Saturday. On Sunday morning, he underwent a PCR test, and in the afternoon the results were verified as positive, according to a separate statement from a Cabinet Office official.
Together with the African Union Commission, the World Bank, and the United Nations, the eighth TICAD will be co-hosted for the first time since 2019. At the meeting, development-related policies will be discussed along with strategies for the continent to combat the COVID-19 epidemic.
Kishida’s infection comes at a time when Japan is experiencing a record resurgence in coronavirus cases through July and August, impacting businesses in the third-largest economy in the world. Death rates are still relatively low, though, and the disruptions have been milder than in some other advanced economies.
Japan’s economy expanded by an annualized 2.2% in the second quarter, slower than anticipated after a COVID-caused dip since it is still unclear if consumer spending would be able to support the shaky recovery.
The government has avoided the draconian lockdowns that were implemented throughout the pandemic in China and other countries, instead relying on widespread mask use and social isolation to reduce infections.