Japan Considering Virus Emergency As Cases Surge – PM Suga

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is considering issuing another state of emergency declaration for the Tokyo area in light of the “extremely severe” coronavirus infection situation.

Suga told a news conference Monday the government will finalize the extent of the emergency declaration shortly as it pushes to strengthen measures against the virus. He also urged people to avoid unnecessary outings and said he will ask parliament to amend an act on virus management when it convenes this month.

He said the government could make the decision as early as this week. “Even during the three days of the New Year’s holiday, cases didn’t go down in the greater Tokyo area,” he said.

Japan reported a record high of 4,519 new daily COVID-19 infections last Thursday, marking the first time the nationwide daily tally has topped the 4,000-mark since the outbreak of the pandemic here.

According to Suga, the country aims to start COVID-19 vaccination by late February, which is earlier than the previous schedule for frontline healthcare workers to start receiving inoculations in mid-March.