Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announces the lifting of emergency measures for the Kansai region at a COVID-19 task force meeting in Tokyo on May 21, 2020.
The Japanese government is set to decide on Monday whether to completely lift its state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic.
A decision is expected to be made during a government response task force meeting with regard to the declaration over Tokyo and the neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, as well as the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido.
According to local media outlets, the emergency status is likely to be removed amid the recent decline in new coronavirus cases.
Japanese health authorities reported 42 new COVID-19 cases from Sunday, after the daily case tally hovered between 20 and 40 over the past week.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also scheduled to hold a news conference around 6 p.m. to call on the public to balance efforts to prevent infections and resume social and economic activities.
A total of 42 other prefectures have already been removed from under the emergency declaration that first took effect on April 7 for seven regions before expanding nationwide in mid-April.
The measure was expected to last until the end of May.
<Photo: Yonhap News>
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