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Japan is set to expand and extend a state of emergency in Tokyo and other areas through May 31 as the coronavirus continues spreading and uncertainty grows about safely holding the Olympics just 11 weeks away.
The current emergency in Tokyo and Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures in the west is scheduled to end Tuesday. Instead, officials are seeking an extension in those areas and to expand the virus-control measure to Aichi in central Japan and Fukuoka in the south.
Officials in charge of Japan’s COVID-19 response are seeking experts’ endorsement of the plan, and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will announce the measures later Friday.
Tokyo logged 591 new cases of coronavirus infection Thursday, a slight dip from when the state of emergency began in the capital last month, but far above a target of 100 that some experts recommend.
