The Japanese government plans to expand the state of emergency to eight more prefectures on Friday, due to the continued effects of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The Japanese government decided last Wednesday to extend the state of emergency declared in the six originally announced prefectures (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, and Okinawa) from August 31 to September 12 in response to the Delta variant of the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
The government also added the following seven prefectures to the state of emergency last Friday: Kyoto, Hyogo, Fukuoka, Tochigi, Ibaraki, Gunma, and Shizuoka.
The newly added prefectures are Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima, for a new total of 21 prefectures, including Japan’s 14 most populous prefectures.