As Tokyo continues to record high daily Covid-19 infections, Japan may extend the current quasi-state of emergency which was set to expire on Sunday February 13. As reported by Kyodo News, the government is eyeing a three-week extension that will run until March 6 for Tokyo and the 12 other prefectures that went into a quasi-emergency at the same time. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is slated to make a decision on Thursday February 10 after consulting a team of experts.
Requests for an extension have been made by the following prefectures:
- Aichi
- Chiba
- Gifu
- Gunma
- Kanagawa
- Kumamoto
- Mie
- Miyazaki
- Nagasaki
- Niigata
- Saitama
- Tokyo
Amid virus surges across the country, the other 22 prefectures under quasi-emergency will most likely follow suit and extend their emergency measures. Currently, a quasi-state of emergency is in place in 35 of Japan's 47 prefectures.
As reported by The Japan Times, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government has also decided to offer Covid-19 rapid antigen test kits for close contacts of those infected. These kits will be directly delivered to those isolating at home and will help reduce the burden on the medical system. Applications for the kits will be open until February 27 and you can apply here (Japanese only).
On Wednesday, Tokyo reported 18,287 new Covid-19 infections.
This article was originally published on February 8, and updated on February 9.
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