State of emergency extended in Japan

More than 41 percent of Japan's population now live under a state of emergency due to worsening coronavirus infections as the prefectures of Hokkaido, Hiroshima and Okayama began imposing tougher measures on Sunday.

The three areas will join Tokyo, Osaka and four other prefectures already under such an emergency to run until May 31 while a quasi-emergency currently covering seven prefectures was also expanded to the prefectures of Gunma, Ishikawa and Kumamoto to last until June 13.

The move came as COVID-19 cases had risen all over Japan for weeks, with the daily number of infections last week topping 6,000.

Despite the dire situation, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday repeated his determination to hold the Olympics, due to open in two months.

Suga reiterated that the Games could be held safely and securely and people protected by strictly controlling the movement of participants. "I understand there are various difficulties, but the priority is to stop the further spread of infections and protect people's lives and health," Suga said.

Support for Suga's administration fell to its lowest in the latest poll published by Jiji Press, a sign of growing dissatisfaction over his handling of the pandemic.

The poll, conducted from May 7 to 10, found the proportion of respondents saying they support Suga fell to 32.2 percent, while those who did not support him rose to 44.6 percent, the highest level so far.

Flagging support

Nearly 65 percent of respondents in the poll said they did not approve of the government's handling of the outbreak. About three quarters said they were upset with the slow rollout of vaccinations compared with other wealthy countries.

The flagging support is the latest in a series of signs that showed mounting pressure for Suga as he is aiming at an election for leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, or LDP, in September and a general election that must be held by October.

While the Jiji poll showed none of the opposition parties have enough backing to topple the LDP, with support for the LDP at 21.4 percent and 4.4 percent for the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party, analysts say it is possible that weak public support could tempt the LDP to replace Suga.

Separately, Japanese companies doing business in India are recalling workers from that country.

The New Delhi office of Japan's External Trade Organization said about 80 percent of Japanese firms there had sent their workers and their families' home or are planning to do so.

The Embassy of Japan in India said Japanese nationals who are negative in a PCR test will be able to obtain the certificates they need to enter Japan.