Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says officials have started developing test kits to detect the new coronavirus in an effort to find infections more swiftly.
Abe told the Lower House budget committee on Monday that domestic inspections will be expanded to stop the spread of the virus.
He said officials are working to build a framework that would allow private firms to carry out tests for the virus in addition to public institutes.
Abe said it is important to bolster the government's system for dealing with infectious diseases and its crisis management system is constantly being reviewed.
The prime minister stressed that he will put people's lives and health first and will promptly implement the necessary measures to deal with the situation that is changing day by day.
