Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will reveal the latest details of this decision during a press conference in the near future. The Japanese government had previously announced that it was considering the decision to withdraw the state of emergency in most of the country's prefectures. However, it was added that the evolution of the pandemic will be observed in the 39 aforementioned prefectures and on May 21 it will be re-considered if the state of emergency is necessary again.
Abe declared a state of emergency for the prefectures of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo and Fukuoka for the period from April 7 to May 6. Kyoto Prefecture Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki asked the Japanese government on April 10 to add Kyoto to a state of emergency. In counterpart, the governor of Aichi prefecture Hideaki Ohmura, in addition to requesting, also independently declared a state of emergency in his prefecture on April 17.
Subsequently, Abe declared April 16 a national state of emergency after a meeting with a panel of experts on the subject, and declared the end date to May 6. However, the week before this end date was extended to May 31.
