TOKYO: The Japanese government Thursday won advisory committee approval of its plans to lift its coronavirus state of emergency for 39 of the country's 47 prefectures.

The 39 are five of the 13 prefectures put on special coronavirus alert, as well as the remaining 34 prefectures in the country.

The five prefectures with the special alert status are Ibaraki, Ishikawa, Gifu, Aichi and Fukuoka.

The plans were submitted to the advisory committee that includes infectious disease experts and economists by economic and fiscal policy minister Yasutoshi Nishimura earlier on Thursday.

In submitting the plans, Nishimura said, "It would be appropriate to lift the state of emergency for the 39 prefectures where the number of new coronavirus cases has fallen to the levels seen before the virus started spreading."

The state of emergency will remain in place for the eight prefectures of Hokkaido, Chiba, Saitama, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Kyoto, Osaka and Hyogo.

The government is scheduled to brief lawmakers about the plans before making a final decision later on Thursday.

The government first declared the state of emergency on April 7 for Tokyo and six other prefectures and expanded it to the whole country nine days later. It is scheduled to expire on May 31.

JIJI Press