Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday that the country’s state of emergency will be expanded from 13 prefectures to 21, broadening the nation’s strictest measure for a third time as the current coronavirus wave worsens.
Effective Friday, the state of emergency will be active until Sept. 12 in Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima prefectures, in addition to Tokyo, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Chiba, Saitama, Kanagawa, Shizuoka, Kyoto, Osaka, Hyogo, Fukuoka and Okinawa.
Suga also announced that quasi-emergency measures effective in 16 prefectures will be expanded to encompass four more — Kochi, Saga, Nagasaki and Miyazaki — until mid-September.