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| People wearing face masks walk in front of JR Osaka Station on July 29, 2021. (Photo by= Kyodo) |
[Asia News = Reporter Reakkana] TOKYO - Japan decided Friday to expand its COVID-19 state of emergency to Osaka and three prefectures near Tokyo as a recent spike in coronavirus cases to record levels has raised fears that the country's medical system could collapse amid the Tokyo Olympics, Kyodo reported.
Facing the urgent need to take stronger anti-virus measures, the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will add Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Osaka prefectures to areas under the emergency, which already covers Tokyo and Okinawa, from next Monday through Aug. 31. The COVID-19 emergency initially declared for Tokyo and Okinawa through Aug. 22 will also be extended until the end of the month. The new period overlaps with the Olympics, which started last week and will run through Aug. 8, and also partly covers the Paralympics period starting Aug. 24.
"Novel coronavirus infections are spreading in the Tokyo metropolitan area as well as the Kansai region (in western Japan) at an unprecedented speed," Suga said at the end of a task force meeting held after the emergency expansion got approval from experts in infectious diseases and other fields earlier in the day. The prime minister also urged the public to refrain from nonurgent travel during the summer vacation period and to carefully decide whether to visit their hometowns.
