OKAYAMA: Okayama Governor Ryuta Ibaragi said Saturday that the western Japan prefecture asked the Japanese government Friday night to place it in the COVID-19 pre-emergency stage due to a surge in infection cases.

Pre-emergency measures are expected to be taken throughout the prefecture.

On top of Okayama, 13 prefectures, including Hokkaido, Nagano, Osaka and Fukuoka, have decided to seek the pre-emergency designation.

Currently, Tokyo and 15 other prefectures in Japan are placed in the pre-emergency stage. The government plans to decide as early as Tuesday to add more prefectures to the pre-emergency list.

Okayama reported 565 new coronavirus infection cases on Saturday, with the daily count hitting a record high for the fourth consecutive day.

“The number of elderly patients is rising,” Ibaragi told a news conference.

“We had no choice but to seek (the pre-emergency status) while worrying that (the designation) would not be as effective as it was amid the fourth and fifth waves” of infections in the country last year, he added.

The pre-emergency designation allows prefectural governors to ask local eating and drinking establishments to shorten operating hours. The governors can also ask them not to serve alcohol.

JIJI Press