Amid the rapid rise of Covid-19 cases in many parts of Japan, due largely to the highly contagious Delta variant, the state of emergency that currently affects Greater Tokyo as well as Osaka and Okinawa has been extended until Sunday September 12. According to Kyodo News, the government is also declaring a state of emergency in several more prefectures while implementing quasi-emergency measures in a few others, effective Friday August 20.
With this new development, the emergency will be in place in 21 prefectures across Japan. The quasi-state of emergency, on the other hand, will cover 12 prefectures. Here’s the breakdown.
The current state of emergency in these prefectures has been extended
The current state of emergency in Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Osaka and Okinawa prefectures will now end on September 12 instead of August 31. Under the emergency measures, restaurants and bars serving alcohol are urged to close while those not serving alcohol are asked to close by 8pm.
These prefectures will be put under a new state of emergency
In addition to the extension, these prefectures will go under the new state of emergency effective until September 12: Aichi, Fukuoka, Gifu, Gunma, Hiroshima, Hokkaido, Hyogo, Ibaraki, Kyoto, Mie, Miyagi, Okayama, Shiga, Shizuoka and Tochigi are currently running on quasi-emergency measures.
These prefectures will start implementing quasi-emergency measures
Certain prefectures will be placed under a quasi-state of emergency: Ehime, Kagawa, Kagoshima, Kochi, Miyazaki, Nagasaki, Saga, Toyama and Yamanashi. They will join prefectures which are already in quasi-emergency: Fukushima, Ishikawa and Kumamoto. The quasi-emergency will run until September 12. Under this stipulation, local governors can choose to impose restrictions similar to those under the full state of emergency.
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