Last weekend, after he held his first news conference on the coronavirus crisis — a scripted affair with prearranged questions that left Japanese journalists shouting at him for answers — Twitter was flooded with over a million posts demanding his resignation.

Two days before, after weeks of inaction, Mr. Abe blindsided parents by asking the nation’s schools to close for a month, sending many scrambling to find child care.

Japan has struggled to roll out widespread testing for the virus, which has been limited to 900 patients per day while neighboring countries test up to 10,000 daily. His former health minister said the outbreak had been “so disastrous” because Mr. Abe “has stayed too long in power.”

The latest: Here are live updates and maps of where the virus has spread.

Markets: U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday, falling more than 3 percent for the fourth time in the past two weeks. The impact on airlines was “almost without precedent,” the president of the International Air Transport Association said.

Sick while rich: The wealthy are ditching first class for private planes and consulting with concierge doctors and other V.I.P. health care services.