Japan's Nationwide COVID-19 Spread... 3,900 New Daily Cases

by Im Onyu

Published 25 May.2021 21:12(KST)

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] Japan's daily new COVID-19 cases have reached 4,000.

According to NHK broadcasting on the 25th, the number of newly confirmed COVID-19 infections nationwide in Japan was counted at 3,901 as of 8 PM.

Although this is the lowest number since the third state of emergency was declared in Tokyo and other areas on the 25th of last month based on Tuesday data, the nationwide spread continues as the number increased by more than 1,000 compared to the previous day.

Accordingly, the Japanese government is considering extending the state of emergency declared in nine metropolitan areas including Tokyo, which is set to expire at the end of this month.

Osaka Prefecture held a COVID-19 countermeasures headquarters meeting on the same day and decided to be the first among the nine metropolitan local governments to request the central government to extend the state of emergency again, with most of the relevant local governments leaning towards extension.

Tokyo Metropolis, which reported 542 new confirmed cases on the day, has seen a recent decline in cases over the past few days, but due to concerns about re-spread mediated by variant viruses, it views the extension of the state of emergency as inevitable.

The Japanese government usually holds a countermeasures headquarters meeting to determine the direction of COVID-19 response ahead of the weekend.

Considering this, it is expected that a meeting to decide on the extension of the state of emergency will be convened on Friday, the 28th.

The extension period is likely to be set until the 20th of next month, aligned with Okinawa Prefecture, which was newly included in the state of emergency areas starting from the 23rd.

As of this day, Japan's cumulative confirmed cases have increased to 726,829.