Society

Japan to expand quasi emergency amid rising coronavirus cases

Feb 04 (NHK) - The Japanese government is expanding quasi-emergency measures against the coronavirus as infections continue to spread across the country. Total cases since the pandemic started have topped 3 million.

On Thursday, officials across Japan reported more than 96,000 cases for the second consecutive day. That's a new record. A total of 911 people are in serious condition, up 25 from Wednesday.

Tokyo reported more than 20,000 new cases for the second day in a row.

Experts monitoring the situation in the capital say the medical system is under serious strain.

They say that is partly because many healthcare workers have caught the virus or become close contacts of infected people.

The spike comes in spite of quasi-emergency measures. They're in place in 34 of Japan's 47 prefectures.

The government plans to add the western prefecture of Wakayama. The quasi-emergency measures are expected to come into force there on Saturday. They include asking bars and restaurants to close early and not to serve alcohol.

The surge in new infections is also putting a burden on local governments. Officials in the city of Osaka say they were slow to report more than 10,000 cases because they could not enter the huge volume of data into a computer system quickly enough. They also say they had a technical glitch.

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