1. "Abe, make sure to extend the declaration of emergency until 31st of this month."
NHK reported on the 3rd that the Japanese prime minister has decided to extend the emergency situation related to the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), which was declared nationwide, to the end of this month.
Prime Minister Abe met with Yastoshi Nishimura and Katsunobu Kato, minister of welfare and labor, and decided to extend the emergency period, which falls until the 6th of this month, to the 31st, and listen to the opinions of an advisory panel composed of experts on such measures, NHK said.
Kyodo News also quoted a government official as saying that Abe has begun coordinating to extend the new deadline for the emergency to the 31st of this month.
Prime Minister Abe has expanded the emergency situation to 47 provinces across the country on the 16th of the same month since he declared an emergency on 7th last month in response to the surge in the number of people infected with COVID-19.
Following the declaration of an emergency, requests for refraining from going out and requests for restrictions on the use of box office facilities have been issued in various parts of the Japanese archipelago.
Abe told reporters on the 1st that he ordered Nishimura, the prime minister for economic regeneration, to consider the proposal to extend the emergency situation by about a month.
2. The Russian COVID-19 surge that never stops..."More than 10,000 confirmed a day."
The number of newly confirmed cases exceeded 10,000 for the first time on Thursday (local time) amid a surge in the number of new coronavirus infections in Russia.
The cumulative number of confirmed cases exceeded 134,000 and has risen to the seventh largest in the world.
The Russian government's new anti-coronavirus infection (COVID-19) inflow and anti-proliferation headquarters said on the same day that 16,633 additional confirmed cases have been reported in 85 regions across the country, including Moscow, adding that the cumulative number of confirmed cases has increased to 134,687.
Accumulated infections rose to 68,606 with 5,948 additional confirmed cases in the capital Moscow alone.
In addition, 822 new confirmed cases were reported in Moscow, outside Moscow, 295 in St. Petersburg, the second city, and 252 in the central city of Nitungolod.
COVID-19 deaths across the country rose to 1,280 with 58 added over the day.
