People have been urged to stay home since the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency in Japan. Essential businesses such as supermarkets and convenience stores, however, continue to operate as usual.
To protect staff and customers from the Covid-19 coronavirus, convenience stores started installing plastic sheets at cash registers at the beginning of April. However, as infection cases continue to increase across Japan, Lawson, one of the country's most popular convenience store chains, has decided to go one step further.
As reported by the Asahi Shimbun (in Japanese), Lawson has decided to ban its customers from using in-store toilets and rubbish bins, as well as remove installed ashtrays, effective April 28. The ban applies to all 14,000 Lawson outlets in Japan. Since convenience store toilets and bins are used daily by the public, Lawson is hoping that the move will help minimise contact contamination and in turn, lower the risk of transmission for both staff and customers.
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