TOKYO, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said on Monday that the government is planning to declare another state of emergency for Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures as COVID-19 cases surge in these areas.

Speaking at the first press conference of 2021, Suga said that the government could make the decision as early as this week. "Even during the three days of the New Year's holiday, cases didn't go down in the greater Tokyo area," he said.

Japan reported a record high of 4,519 new daily COVID-19 infections last Thursday, marking the first time the nationwide daily tally has topped the 4,000-mark since the outbreak of the pandemic here.

According to Suga, the country aims to start COVID-19 vaccination by late February, which is earlier than the previous schedule for frontline healthcare workers to start receiving inoculations in mid-March.

The Japanese government had previously declared a state of emergency over COVID-19 last April. As infections have continued rising recently, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike and her counterparts in neighboring Chiba, Kanagawa and Saitama prefectures on Saturday urged the central government to issue a new declaration.

The Japanese leader has been reluctant to declare another state of emergency as the economy would face a severe blow.

Speaking at a press conference late last month, Suga had said the head of the government's expert panel on the COVID-19 pandemic told him that it was not necessary to declare a state of emergency at the moment.