Japan to mull state of emergency amid virus crisis

Agencies | Tokyo

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Japan will consider declaring a state of emergency over the Covid-19 pandemic for Tokyo and its surrounding prefectures, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told a news conference on Monday.

His announcement comes after the governors of the four prefectures, including Tokyo, urged the central government on Saturday to impose the measure for their regions after suffering massive spikes in new coronavirus infections, according to Deutsche press agency (dpa).

Japan posted 3,158 new cases on Sunday, about half of which were from the four prefectures – Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike expressed concerns about an increase in the number of patients with severe symptoms after the figure rose to 101 on Sunday.

She urged 14 million Tokyo residents to continue refraining from non-urgent and non-essential outings.