Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, left, and Kengo Sakurada, chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, meet in Tokyo on Aug. 19, 2021. (Kyodo)

       TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Thursday asked a major business lobby in Tokyo to thoroughly implement telework to reduce the number of commuters by 70 percent to cope with the continuing surge in COVID-19 infections.

       The request to the Japan Association of Corporate Executives known as Keizai Doyukai was made a day after Suga sought a similar action by the country's largest business lobby Keidanren, officially called the Japan Business Federation.

       In a meeting with Keizai Doyukai Chairman Kengo Sakurada and other members of the business lobby, Suga said, "I would like to ask for your cooperation in promoting teleworking to curb the flow of people and prevent cluster infections in the workplace."

       Sakurada expressed his willingness to cooperate but asked the government to facilitate business transactions that do not require face-to-face contact, saying, "In some cases, people in divisions such as sales come to work in response to customer requests."

       On Wednesday, Keidanren Chairman Masakazu Tokura said the business lobby would ensure that all its member companies recognize the need to implement remote work and urged the government to make "antibody cocktail treatment" widely available.

       The treatment, in which COVID-19 patients are administered casirivimab and imdevimab intravenously, lowers the risk of hospitalization or death by about 70 percent, according to overseas clinical trials.

       Suga has been seeking business circles' cooperation in curbing the spread of infections with Japan seeing an unprecedented rise in coronavirus cases nationwide due to the highly contagious Delta variant.

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