Japan To Expand COVID State Of Emergency To 8 More Prefectures

The Japanese government is set to decide Wednesday to bring eight more prefectures under its COVID-19 state of emergency as the country grapples with its largest wave of infections, Mainichi Japan reported.

Photo Insert: The expansion of the state of emergency comes as the Paralympics commence.

Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama, and Hiroshima will come under the measure from Friday until Sept. 12, joining 13 other prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka, according to government and ruling party sources.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to formalize the decision at a task force meeting later in the day after getting approval from a panel of experts in infectious diseases and other fields. Under the state of emergency, restaurants are asked not to serve alcohol or offer karaoke and instructed to close by 8 p.m.

Major commercial facilities including department stores and shopping malls are requested to limit the number of customers allowed in at the same time.

Suga has also called on foot traffic in crowded areas to be cut by half, and for firms to have employees work from home and cut commuters by 70 percent. The decision to expand the measure comes a day after Tokyo began hosting the Paralympics, which like the Olympics are being held almost entirely without spectators to lower the risk of infections spreading.

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