Japan poised to declare state of emergency over coronavirus www.theguardian.com

“We hope to declare a state of emergency as early as tomorrow after listening to the opinions of the advisory panel,” Abe told reporters on Monday evening.
“We are seeing rapid increases of new infections, particularly in urban areas such as Tokyo and Osaka.
The majority of confirmed cases over the weekend involved people aged below 50, with many in their 20s and 30s.
More than 3,500 people have tested positive and 85 have died from the virus in Japan, NHK said.
Legal revisions passed last month gave Abe scope to declare a state of emergency if the coronavirus outbreak posed a “grave danger” to public health and threatened serious damage to the world’s third-biggest economy, which is now on the brink of recession.