Japan to extend COVID quasi-emergency for Tokyo, 12 other prefs.

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.