Tokyo is set to remain under COVID-19 restrictions until March 21 as the state of emergency in the Japanese capital is expected to be extended for two weeks.
The measures in Tokyo and the three neighbouring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba were due to be lifted on Sunday (March 7). Similar measures in Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Aichi, Gifu and Fukuoka prefectures were ended six days earlier than planned.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike had suggested caution over lifting restrictions in the capital, despite a fall in COVID-19 cases.
Koike noted that Tokyo was expected to fall short of a target for daily new cases to fall to 70 per cent of the number confirmed the previous week. Japan’s cabinet secretary Katsunobu Kato confirmed the restrictions would be extended for two weeks. “Regarding the critical situation of the number of hospital beds available, it does not appear that pressure is easing in a stable manner,” Kato said, according to Agence France-Presse.