TOKYO: The Japanese government decided to declare a fresh state of emergency over the coronavirus epidemic in the Tokyo metropolitan area at a meeting of its coronavirus response headquarters on Thursday.

The state of emergency for Tokyo and the three surrounding prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa will be imposed between Friday and Feb. 7.

Depending on the epidemic situation, the government may have to extend the state of emergency or expand its areas, as coronavirus infections are spreading rapidly across the country.

At a meeting of the House of Representatives steering committee earlier on Thursday, economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura suggested that the government would consider lifting the new state of emergency after the daily number of new coronavirus cases in Tokyo falls below 500. Tokyo logged record 2,447 new cases on the day.

Under the special law for the fight against the coronavirus, the previous state of emergency was issued in April last year.

JIJI Press