Tokyo, Jan. 6, (dpa/GNA) – Tokyo confirmed 1,591 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, one day before Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga makes a decision as to whether to declare another state of emergency for the capital and its surrounding region.
The figure exceeded the previous daily record of 1,337 new infections on New Year’s Eve, surpassing the 1,000-case mark for the first time, as Tokyo has suffered coronavirus surges since mid-December.
On Thursday, Suga plans to announce his government’s decision on a coronavirus state of emergency for Tokyo and the neighbouring prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama.
“It’s time to declare a state of emergency” for the four prefectures, Shigeru Omi, head of the government advisory panel on the pandemic, told a news conference late on Tuesday.
Japan reported a record 4,916 nationwide cases on Tuesday, about half of which were from the four prefectures.
The governors of the four prefectures decided on Monday to request bars and restaurants shorten business hours to curb new cases.
Japan’s month-long state of emergency ended in mid-May in most of the country’s 47 prefectures. Several prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, were under the measure for about six weeks.
The Covid-19 pandemic forced the International Olympic Committee and Japan to postpone the Tokyo Olympics and the Paralympics by one year to July and August 2021.
GNA