Japanese Government Lifts COVID-19 State of Emergency

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced the complete lifting of the country's nationwide state of emergency.

"Today the government will lift the state of emergency across the nation," Abe said on Monday, perNHK. "We've set some of the most strict criteria in the world to lift the declaration, and we concluded that prefectures across the country have met that standard."

With the announcement, the Japanese government lifts the state of emergency in the final five of the country's 47 prefectures. Tokyo and three surrounding prefectures, as well as the northern island of Hokkaido, are among the final five. While the state of emergency enacted for COVID-19 containment reasons once included the entire country, recent weeks have seen the government scaling down that effort as the amount of new virus infections started to decline.

Looking ahead, Abe praised the country's united efforts in helping curb the spread of the virus while also pushing for people to achieve what he characterized as a "new normal." Controlling the risk of infection, he added, remains foremost on the government's agenda.

"Our businesses and daily routines will be completely disrupted if we continue with strict curbs on social and economic activity," Abe, who also urged citizens to continue following social distancing guidelines, said.