Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba join Tokyo, Okinawa in state of emergency until August 31
The Japanese government notified the ruling party coalition on Thursday that it intends to expand the current state of emergency for the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19) to four more prefectures and extend its duration to August 31. This development comes as the nation reported 10,699 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday — the first time there were over 10,000 new cases in one day.
The state of emergency will expand to the prefectures of Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba from August 2 to August 31. In addition, the current state of emergency in Tokyo and Okinawa will extend its end date from August 22 to August 31. Government experts expressed their concerns for a shortage of hospital beds, as new cases have increased at least 50% weekly this month, and they project this exponential growth…
