Japan to extend COVID quasi-emergency for Tokyo, 12 other prefs.
TOKYO. KAZINFORM The Japanese government is set to extend the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency for Tokyo and 12 other prefectures for about three weeks from its scheduled end this weekend as Japan struggles to stem the spread of the highly transmissible Omicron variant, government sources said Wednesday.
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to formally make a decision at a government task-force meeting Thursday, while also accepting a request by Kochi Prefecture in western Japan to be placed under the same measure, Kyodo reports.
Requests for an extension have been made by the capital and three neighboring prefectures -- Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa -- as well as Gunma, Niigata, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Kagawa, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Miyazaki, for which the quasi-emergency state is set to end on Sunday.
The quasi-emergency state, which involves restricting business hours of restaurants and bars, as well as a request to refrain from nonessential travel between prefectures, currently covers 35 of Japan's 47 prefectures.
Given that the virus surge continues and is pressuring the country's medical system, a government source said many of the remaining 22 prefectures are expected to similarly have the measure extended.
As Tokyo reported 18,287 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, Kishida announced a plan to set up temporary medical facilities in Tokyo and Osaka to increase hospital capacity by a combined 1,000 beds and help them secure enough medical personnel.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said after meeting with Kishida that the capital will add 660 hospital beds using a hotel and a vacant former medical facility, and also set up facilities for supporting pregnant women.
Weekly cases of ambulances struggling to find a hospital to take patients to have hit record highs for the fourth week in a row, with 36 percent of the cases believed to be coronavirus-related.