Major Japanese firms that have had their bread-and-butter businesses disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic are responding to calls for an "All Japan" effort to overcome the crisis.

Japan's struggles to secure sufficient face shields, masks, medical gowns, hand sanitisers and ventilators for its front-line healthcare workers have prompted donations from places such as Jordan, Taiwan and Vietnam, while domestic firms are also stepping up to the plate.

Sony, Shiseido, Suntory and Toyota are among the major names that have converted their production lines and branched out into new fields to help ease the shortages of supplies for fighting the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, the government is pondering an exit strategy for its ongoing state of emergency, which has been criticised as relaxed but has proved successful in curbing the spread of infections without introducing criminal penalties.

Japan recorded fewer than 100 new cases on two days last week, the first time this has happened since March 30. There were 60 new cases as of 6pm yesterday, bringing the total past 15,800.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government, which came under fire for its haphazard measures at the outset of the crisis, is not letting its guard down. He has said sorry to medical workers for the insufficient equipment.

A key priority of the exit strategy, senior assistant minister for global health Yasuyuki Sahara said last Friday, will be to "establish a system that can quickly respond to a surge in infections". This includes securing enough equipment. Mr Abe, in urging domestic manufacturers to do their bit last month, has vowed that the government will buy the excess for its reserve stockpile.

Sony last Friday said it has begun manufacturing medical face shields, and it aims to donate 40,000 sets from the middle of this month. It added that it will help to produce ventilators that are developed and designed by Japanese medical device maker Acoma.

Production will begin in July at its medical equipment plant in Shizuoka prefecture and digital camera factory in Aichi prefecture, with 500 units to be made by the end of September.

Mitsubishi Motors and Toyota are among the carmakers to have begun manufacturing face shields for donation to hospitals.

Toyota said it has expanded its production capacity by 20 times to 40,000 face shields a month, and will ramp this up to 70,000 shields.

Mitsubishi Motors last month said it was producing about 1,500 face shields a month, which it planned to increase, while also manufacturing products like face masks.

Textile maker Teijin has begun producing medical gowns, with plans to supply nine million to healthcare institutions by next month.

Synthetic fibre maker Toray is increasing production of protective gear and fabric for disposable medical masks, while cosmetics maker Shiseido last month branched out into making hand sanitiser, with the aim of producing 100,000 litres - or 200,000 bottles - a month.

Kao, a manufacturer of personal hygiene products, has ramped up its disinfectant production capacity by more than 20 times, its president Michitaka Sawada was quoted by the Nikkei newspaper as saying.

Leading beverage maker Suntory, meanwhile, is giving alcohol disinfectants - produced at its Osaka plant - to hospitals and healthcare facilities.