TOKYO: The Japanese government plans to extend its state of emergency over the novel coronavirus epidemic for two weeks until March 21, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday.

“I think that an extension of about two weeks is needed to protect the lives and livelihoods of citizens,” Suga told reporters at the prime minister’s office.

The government is expected to make a formal decision on Friday. The emergency, which covers Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa, is currently slated to end on Sunday.

“Hospital beds are scarce, and some indicators show harsh situations,” Suga said. “It is important that occupancy rates for hospital beds fall below 50 pct and that the vector points downward,” he said.

Suga had previously aimed to lift the emergency on Sunday, but he changed course as the drop in new infection cases has slowed and medical systems remain in dire situations.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said, “The extension matches the metropolitan government’s thinking.” She said, “It will be an extremely important period for preventing rebounds” in infection cases.

Saitama Governor Motohiro Ono said that the extension is “appropriate from the perspective of my prefecture.”

Requests for restaurants and bars to close by 8 p.m. will remain in place in the four prefectures.

Nationwide measures such as the suspension of the Go To Travel tourism promotion scheme and the ban on new entries from foreign countries are also expected to continue.

The state of emergency was first issued to the four prefectures on Jan. 8 and was expanded to include seven other prefectures six days later. The emergency was lifted on Sunday in all prefectures except for the original four.

JIJI Press