Six Japan prefectures now under state of emergency through Aug. 31

Commuters wearing face masks arrive at Shinagawa Station at the start of the working day amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Tokyo, Japan, August 2, 2021 .REUTERS

TOKYO — The Japanese government declared a state of emergency on Monday for the prefectures of Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa and Osaka, expanding to six the number of prefectures where such measures are currently in effect.

Also on the day, emergency-level COVID-19 priority measures were put into effect for Hokkaido, Ishikawa, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka prefectures.

All these measures are effective until Aug. 31. The central government is calling for the public to refrain from nonessential outings and to work from home, but the flow of commuters appeared mostly unchanged Monday morning at major stations in the four newly added prefectures.

On Sunday at the Prime Minister’s Office, senior Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry officials reported to Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Japan’s current situation related to coronavirus infections.

In Chiba, Saitama and Osaka prefectures, restaurants that serve alcoholic beverages or offer karaoke are being asked to suspend operations, while other restaurants are requested to shorten business hours and close by 8 p.m.

Kanagawa Prefecture, which has implemented its own COVID-19 controls, will expand its measures throughout the prefecture, asking shops to shorten business hours and stop serving alcoholic beverages.

In areas under the priority measures, shops and restaurants must move up their closing times to 8 p.m. and stop serving alcoholic beverages in principle. Restaurants that meet certain requirements, such as implementing proper infection control measures, are allowed to serve alcohol until 7 p.m. at the discretion of their prefectural governor if infections in that prefecture are on a downward trend.

The prefectural governments will step up their monitoring of restaurants and call for the public not to drink on streets or in parks.

The central government is aiming for 40% of the population to receive a second dose of vaccine by the end of this month, and is encouraging young people to get vaccinated.