Major Japanese construction contractors halt work

Major Japanese construction contractors Kajima Corporation, Obayashi Corporation and Taisei Corporation have all revealed that they plan to halt construction nationwide until early May in response to the expanded state of emergency called by the Japanese government over the COVID-19 pandemic.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently expanded the state of emergency from Tokyo, Osaka and five other districts to apply to the entire nation.

According to the Japan Times, Kajima and Obayashi plan to halt work until May 6 and Taisei through to May 10.

Kajima, which has about 700 construction sites across the country, said some projects may go ahead as usual if they are urgent.

Japan has not been as badly hit by COVID-19 as many other countries in the world but has seen the number of cases increase rapidly recently, which prompted the government to expand the state of emergency to the whole country.

Cases in Japan recently passed 10,000 with 171 deaths, and there are reports that the country’s hospitals are already becoming overstretched.