Suga approves one month extension of emergency

The Japanese government on Tuesday extended a state of emergency in Tokyo, Osaka and eight other prefectures to March 7 while vowing to hold the delayed Tokyo Olympic Games regardless of the COVID-19 situation in the country.

"The nationwide number of new infections is falling. I think that measures targeted at eating and drinking have been effective but we need to continue this (state of emergency) and decrease the number of patients who are hospitalized or in serious condition," Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said during a parliamentary session.

He made the announcement after seeking advice from a panel of experts as well as the country's coronavirus task force.

The emergency covering 11 places includes all major metropolitan areas of Japan. It had helped halt a rapid acceleration of new infections but was due to expire on Sunday.

Tokyo reported 393 new cases on Monday, the first reading below 500 since Dec 28 and well below the capital's daily record of 2,447 on Jan 7. The city reported 556 additional coronavirus cases on Tuesday.

While infection numbers started to drop under the government's guidelines, Suga's administration said the figure remained worryingly high.

Japan's health ministry said Tokyo's hospital bed occupancy rate was 73 percent as of Jan 27 while critical care units were at 113 percent of its capacity.

Japan's total cases now stand at more than 392,000 with more than 5,800 deaths. Almost 50,000 patients are in need of hospital-level medical care as of Monday and around a third of confirmed cases are in Tokyo.

Business hours shortened

After the extension, Tochigi, north of Tokyo, will be the only prefecture lifted from the emergency. In other areas, bars and restaurants will still be asked to shorten their business hours and residents will be asked to refrain from nonessential outings.

"We can see that the state of emergency has had an impact, but it's been too weak," said Yoshihito Niki, a professor of clinical infectious diseases at Showa University's School of Medicine in Tokyo, indicating a need to prolong the measures. "The government will need to exercise patience at least through February."

In a separate move, Tokyo 2020 President Yoshiro Mori said on Tuesday that Japan would hold the Summer Olympics regardless of the situation on COVID-19.

"We will hold the Olympics, regardless of how the coronavirus (situation) looks," Mori said, adding the discussion now should focus on how, not whether, the Olympics will happen.

Agencies contributed to this story.