Travel agents are busy handling trip cancellations, after the government scaled back its domestic tourism campaign amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections in Japan.

The government decided on Tuesday to exclude Sapporo City in Hokkaido, northern Japan, and Osaka City in western Japan from the popular "Go To Travel" tourism promotion campaign. The two cities have recently been virus hot spots.

The Japanese government has scaled back a popular domestic tourism campaign due to the coronavirus, which is now spreading rapidly nationwide.

Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi said, "Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and ministers concerned have decided to temporarily halt subsidies for travel to the cities of Sapporo and Osaka."

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo says the government will lift travel restrictions across prefectural borders on Friday, as the daily number of coronavirus cases continues to fall nationwide, except in a few localities.

Abe made the announcement at a meeting of the government's taskforce on the coronavirus on Thursday.