SUGA EYES QUIET NEW YEAR IN JAPAN

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga called on the Japanese public to spend the New Year holidays "quietly" and avoid large gatherings among family and friends to curb the recent surge in coronavirus cases, according to Mainichi Shimbun

The prime minister's appeal came as the daily number of new infections topped 3,800 for the first time, with the number of deaths also setting a new record at 64.

Speaking at his final press conference of the year, Suga denied any need to declare another state of emergency, saying the government would seek to implement incentives for restaurants to shorten business hours.

"Please cooperate by refraining from gatherings as much as possible so that we can stop infections from spreading," he said, particularly as the health care system is already strained and will be understaffed during the holidays.

The government will hand out an additional 270 billion yen ($2.6 billion) in emergency aid to hospitals with COVID-19 patients, Suga said.

In damage-control mode after seeing his Cabinet's support ratings plunge amid dissatisfaction with his pandemic response, the prime minister said he will seek legislation allowing the government to compensate restaurants, bars, and other eateries following requests to adopt shorter hours and penalize those that do not comply.

Suga also apologized for attending a steak dinner with celebrities last week, saying he had muddled the government's message to avoid meals with five or more people and was "deeply remorseful."

Tokyo reported its second-highest daily increase of 884 new coronavirus infections on Friday, just short of the previous day's 888, with cases continuing to rise unabated in the capital and several other areas across the country.

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