Japan to Impose a One-Month State of Emergency Starting from Jan 8 

Japan’s authorities approved the one-month state of emergency declaration beginning from Jan. 8 to Feb. 7 for the Greater Tokyo metropolitan area in attempting to curb a recent spike in coronavirus cases. 

 

On Wednesday (Jan. 6), daily cases in Japan have surpassed the record of 6,000, reaching this milestone for the first time, and more than 1,500 confirmed cases are in Tokyo.

 

The state of emergency will be imposed this Friday, following an advisory panel approved on Thursday (Jan. 7), for Tokyo, plus Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures. The new restrictions, which suggested as a “soft lockdown”, will request bars and restaurants to close by 8 p.m., as well as asking its citizens to refrain from non-urgent outings.