Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday he is not considering declaring a virus state of emergency for Tokyo over a recent spike in COVID-19 cases amid the spread of the highly contagious omicron variant.
His remarks came amid pressure on the government to again place Tokyo under a state of emergency, with the capital reporting 11,751 daily coronavirus cases the same day, topping 10,000 for the seventh consecutive day. The occupancy rate for designated COVID-19 hospital beds stood at 49.2%, approaching the 50% threshold for the metropolitan government to consider requesting a state of emergency to strengthen anti-coronavirus measures.
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