Japan To Decide On Extending State Of Emergency
The Japanese government is poised to ask its advisory panel to discuss a two-week extension of the coronavirus state-of-emergency declaration for Tokyo and three of its neighboring prefectures.
The declaration has been in place for Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa since January 7. It is currently due to end on Sunday.
The government will seek to extend the declaration through March 21.
If the panel of experts approves the plan on Friday, the Diet will deliberate it and then the government's taskforce will make a final decision later in the day.
Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide will then hold a news conference.
Suga told a Diet committee session on Thursday that the region's coronavirus status has almost improved enough to lift the declaration.
But Suga said occupancy rates of hospital beds set aside for COVID-19 patients remain high. He said if the public cooperates, the two-week extension will help lower the figures significantly and bring the outbreak under control.
to urge the public to continue to fully comply with anti-infection measures, such as teleworking and refraining from nonessential outings.