Japan to Lift Emergency COVID-19 Measures in the Capital Region on the 21st

Yoshihide Suga, Prime Minister of Japan (Photo by AP Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Kum Bo-ryeong] The COVID-19 state of emergency in some areas of the Tokyo metropolitan area is likely to be fully lifted on the 21st.

On the 17th, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters at the Prime Minister's Office, "I would like to make a final decision after hearing the opinions of the expert committee tomorrow, aiming to lift the state of emergency declaration that expires on the 21st."

According to NHK, Prime Minister Suga met with Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and Health, Labour and Welfare Minister Norihisa Tamura on the same day to discuss how to handle the state of emergency declaration.

The Japanese government reissued the state of emergency in some areas of the Tokyo metropolitan area on January 8 this year, when the number of new daily COVID-19 cases approached 8,000. Subsequently, the state of emergency was expanded to 11 regions nationwide.

Among these, seven regions were lifted on the 1st, and currently, the state of emergency is in effect in four metropolitan local governments in the Tokyo metropolitan area: Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Chiba Prefectures.

Meanwhile, according to NHK's tally, as of 6:20 p.m. on the 17th, Japan reported 1,535 new COVID-19 cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.