Japan’s plan to end emergency for 39 prefectures accepted by experts – minister

A panel of experts has accepted the Japanese government’s plan to end the state of emergency for 39 prefectures, Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Thursday. The 39 prefectures in which the emergency is expected to be lifted account for 54 percent of Japan’s population.

Japan was expected to lift the state of emergency across a large part of the country on Thursday but the capital, Tokyo is likely to remain under restrictions until there is a convincing containment of the coronavirus.

The world’s third-largest economy declared a nationwide state of emergency a month ago, urging citizens to reduce person-to-person contact by 80 percent in an effort to slow the pace of new coronavirus infections and ease the strain on medical services.

The country has reported 16,100 cases of the coronavirus, and 696 deaths, according to broadcaster NHK. Japan has avoided the kind of explosive epidemics seen in the US and elsewhere, but its testing has also been among the lowest, Reuters said.