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Japan is expected to extend a state of emergency to fight the spread of Covid-19 this week for Tokyo and other areas as hospitals remain under pressure despite a decline in cases from their peaks, local media reported on Monday.
Via Reuters: The government will decide on the extension after a meeting of its experts panel this week, public broadcaster NHK said.
The government last month declared a one-month state of emergency, due to end on Sunday, for 11 areas, including Tokyo and its neighbouring prefectures, as part of measures to rein in the pandemic.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has launched a raft of measures to contain a third wave of infections as his government remains determined that the Olympics go ahead as planned on 23 July.
China reported the lowest daily increase in new Covid cases in more than three weeks, official data showed on Monday, reversing a sharp uptick a day earlier, amid efforts to contain the disease ahead of a major holiday break, Reuters reports.
New confirmed reported cases more than halved to 42, the National Health Commission said in a statement, down from 92 a day earlier and marking the lowest one-day increase since 33 reported on 8 January.
Of the 33 new locally transmitted infections, northeastern Heilongjiang reported 22 new cases while new patients reported in neighbouring Jilin province fell to 10 from 63 a day earlier. The remaining nine cases were imported infections involving travellers arriving from overseas.
National and local authorities continue to discourage travel even as the number of new cases fell, underscoring their concerns about another flare-up as the country approaches the Lunar New Year holiday period next month when hundreds of millions typically travel.
Official forecasts are for the total number of trips taken during the holiday break to fall 60% from 2019, the last time when Chinese travellers did not face any major restrictions in movement during the period.
The number of asymptomatic infections, which China does not classify as confirmed cases, also fell to 16 from 19 a day earlier.
The total number of confirmed mainland Covid infections to date now stands at 89,564, while the death toll remained unchanged at 4,636.
from The Guardian https://ift.tt/39zZhAD
