Governors of three prefectures near Olympics host Tokyo are likely to ask the government to declare states of emergency for their regions, media reported Wednesday, after COVID-19 infections spiked to a record high in the capital.
Tokyo recorded 2,848 new cases of the coronavirus on Tuesday, the highest since the pandemic began, and media reported authorities had asked hospitals to prepare more beds for patients amid a surge driven by the delta variant.
Tokyo's neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba are currently under looser quasi-emergency restrictions but are also seeing infections spike. Many of their residents travel to the capital.