State of emergency in Japan expanded as coronavirus cases jump

The Japanese prefectures of Aichi and Gifu declared a state of emergency on Friday as the number of coronavirus infections in the regions continued to rise.

Speaking at a news conference, Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura vowed to take various measures to overcome the coronavirus crisis and requested that its 7.5 million residents stay at home.

Japan confirmed a record 576 new cases on Thursday, bringing the total to 6,255, including 712 on a cruise ship quarantined in the port of Yokohama in February, according to a Kyodo News tally. More than 110 people have died of Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government has been accused of hiding the true number of coronavirus cases by limiting tests.

The two prefectures’ announcements on Friday come three days after Abe declared a month-long state of emergency for seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, affecting 44.6 per cent of the country’s 126 million population.

On Thursday, Omura asked the central government to include Aichi in the country’s state of emergency, however, Japanese government spokesman Yoshihide Suga declined to do so.

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Kyoto Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki also asked the government in a news conference on Friday to put his prefecture with the population of 2.58 million under the country’s state of emergency.

Despite a rapid increase in the number of cases, Abe declined to impose a nationwide lockdown on Tuesday, saying the situation in major cities in Japan was “completely different” from locked-down cities abroad. (dpa)