Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga attends a news conference at the Prime Minister's Official Residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Jan. 7, 2021. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo metropolitan area including Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures on Thursday, authorizing tougher measures to fight a resurgence in COVID-19 infections. The state of emergency will be effective from Friday to Feb. 7, with measures including urging people to stay at home and calling for restaurants and bars to stop serving alcohol by 7 p.m. and close by 8 p.m. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via Xinhua)
TOKYO, Jan. 7 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in the Tokyo metropolitan area including Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures on Thursday, authorizing tougher measures to fight a resurgence in COVID-19 infections.
The state of emergency will be effective from Friday to Feb. 7, with measures including urging people to stay at home and calling for restaurants and bars to stop serving alcohol by 7 p.m. and close by 8 p.m.
Gyms, department stores and entertainment facilities will also be subject to shorter operation hours.
As the government has set the goal of reducing the number of people in the office by 70 percent, it also urged companies to have employees work from home or stagger their shifts.
Meanwhile, events will be capped at 5,000 people or 50 percent of venue capacity.
A state of emergency was first declared in Tokyo and six other prefectures on April 7 last year. It was later expanded to cover the whole country before being lifted in late May.
The new emergency declaration came as Tokyo reported a record 2,447 new daily COVID-19 infections on Thursday, far eclipsing the previous record of 1,591 cases.
The measures are more relaxed compared to those under the previous state of emergency and there will be no punishment for those that fail to comply.
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