Announcement by Japan prime minister, Shinzo Abe
- State of emergency to remain in 8 prefectures, including Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido
- If possible, will not wait until end of the month to lift remaining restrictions
- Warns against a second wave of infections like seen in Singapore, South Korea
This has been very much expected as per reports since last week already, with the remaining prefectures likely to see restrictions being lifted next week on 21 May.
The big question mark now is whether or not the virus trajectory in Japan will be able to stabilise and moderate further in the coming weeks/months as the state of emergency protocols are lifted across the country and in key prefectures like Tokyo and Osaka.
As we have learned from South Korea, it is tough to be calling things a success when all it takes is just one small incident to set back weeks of progress.
