TOKYO (AP) — A governor in central Japan announced a state of emergency Thursday because of rising virus cases and asked businesses and people to curb activities, especially during an upcoming holiday.
Aichi prefecture has been seeing more than 100 new infections a day since mid-July after an extended period with zero new cases. The prefecture includes Nagoya and the headquarters of Toyota Motor Corp., Japan’s top automaker.
Gov. Hideaki Ohmura said businesses are being asked to close altogether or close early, and people are requested to stay home at night to prevent infections from spreading.
The requests continue through Aug. 24, a period that includes Japan's Obon holidays.
“The situation we are in is very serious,” Ohmura said.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike also asked people to not travel outside the capital during the Obon holidays, when Japanese families customarily visit their parents in their hometowns.
“Please protect your family,” she said. “This summer is special. Please do not go on trips this summer.”
Tokyo stopped short of declaring an emergency, but Koike said the city is ready to do so, if needed.
Japan has not had a lockdown. Voluntary emergency measures were put in place in April but were gradually lifted.
Last week, the southwestern island prefecture of Okinawa also declared its own local emergency.
Japan has more than 43,400 cases and about 1,000 deaths, according to a Johns Hopkins University tally.
In other developments in the Asia-Pacific region:
— A makeshift hospital with 700 beds for virus patients has been completed in a Vietnamese city struggling with an outbreak. The hospital in Da Nang, converted from a sports venue, will be ready for patients on Saturday and its capacity can be increased to 3,000 beds, the health ministry said. Over 100 health workers were mobilized from other cities to help treat patients in Da Nang. Vietnam reported another death and 20 new infections Thursday. Vietnam went months without any local infections before an outbreak emerged in Da Nang two weeks ago among a hospital's patients and staff. It has grown to 270 local infections, and other cases have been found in 11 provinces and municipalities, including Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Authorities are ramping up contact tracing.
— The leader of Australian virus hot spot Victoria state urged residents not to panic-buy as he announced reductions in meat production. The state capital, Melbourne, began its first full day of tough lockdown restrictions on Thursday as Victoria posted 471 new cases and eight deaths. Premier Daniel Andrews said beef, lamb and pork production will be reduced by one third because of virus transmission risks in abattoirs and meat processing plants. Poultry production will be reduced by 20%. “All of these measures are designed to drive down to the lowest numbers of workers we can practically get to without at the same time delivering a shortage of products,” Andrews said. He said there was no need for shoppers to stockpile. “You may not necessarily be able to get exactly the cut of meat that you want, but you will get what you need and you will get all the products that are, basically, fundamentally important to you,” he said.