Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to resign over health problems, local media reported Friday. An official statement is yet to be sent out on the same, the unexpected news sent Tokyo stocks plunging more than two percent, with the benchmark Nikkei 225 index reversing earlier gains. Speculations, about Abe’s chronic health issues, simmering since earlier this summer, intensified this month when he visited a Tokyo hospital two weeks in a row for unspecified health checkups. sAbe has acknowledged having ulcerative colitis since he was a teenager and has said the condition was controlled with treatment. He has not made clear if it is related to his recent health issues or hospital visits.
After his recent hospital visits were reported, top officials from Abe’s Cabinet and the ruling party said Abe was overworked. Abe, who has been premier since December 2012 following his first one-year stint in the post between 2006 and 2007, just recently achieved the feat of staying in the top government post for the longest uninterrupted term in the country's history. His government's measures to deal with the pandemic have been plagued by missteps, including the distribution of washable cloth face masks, which proved highly unpopular as they were seen as being too small and arriving too late.