Japan PM says coronavirus situation tense but won't suspend travel scheme

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Friday that the novel coronavirus is spreading in Japan and the situation is tense, but that he was not thinking at this point of suspending the government travel subsidy programme.

He added that if the economy worsened, it would be impossible to protect peoples' jobs and that a government expert panel was of the view that there is little link between the travel subsidy programme and coronavirus infections.

Suga was speaking on a town-hall style online streaming programme.