Despite the government having just declared that the state of emergency will be extended until March 7 for 10 prefectures, some governors may ask for it to be lifted well before then.

“The state of emergency isn’t something that is just continued lazily. If there is a consistent effect, it’s important that it be lifted in stages,” Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura told a meeting of the National Governors’ Association on Saturday.

Yoshimura is likely to decide as early as Tuesday whether to ask the central government to cancel the state of emergency for Osaka. He said earlier he would hold a meeting of health experts that day, provided all prefectural standards for requesting an end to the emergency are met by then.