TOKYO: Japanese economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura suggested on Sunday that the state of emergency over the novel coronavirus pandemic may be lifted in many of 34 prefectures with less infection cases.

Nishimura, who is responsible for the government's coronavirus response measures, showed the prospect at a press conference. The government is expected to make a decision as early as Thursday on whether to partially remove the state of emergency.

The government declared the state of emergency on April 7 for seven prefectures with large numbers of infection cases--Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka--and expanded it to all 47 prefectures of the country on April 16. The state of emergency, which was originally set to end on Wednesday, the final day of the Golden Week holiday period, has been extended to the end of this month.

Thirteen of the 47 prefectures, including the seven in which the situation is serious, have been designated as areas where measures against the virus are taken intensively.

Nishimura said that the state of emergency may be lifted for Ibaraki and Gifu, both among the 13 prefectures, depending on circumstances, noting that the number of infection cases "has decreased substantially" in the two prefectures.

On the situation in the 34 less affected prefectures, Nishimura said that the number of new infection cases has been zero for the last two weeks in some of them, adding that more prefectures are seeing no new cases in the past week.

As to numerical criteria on lifting the state of emergency, Nishimura, in a television program earlier on Sunday, said, among other things, that the weekly number of new infection cases should be below a certain level.

The government will also take into account systems to monitor the infection situation, including on the implementation of polymerase chain reaction tests for detecting infection, and provide medical treatment to patients.

At the press conference, Nishimura said that the government will reveal its views on the resumption of large-scale events and people's movement across prefectural borders through revising its coronavirus response guidelines if it decides to lift the state of emergency.

"We aim to contain the spread of the coronavirus within this month," Nishimura said, adding that the government is "determined to protect business operations, employment and people's lives in the meantime."

JIJI Press