Japanese prime minister extends COVID-19 state of emergency through June 20

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday extended the nation’s state of emergency through June 20 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to CNN, Suga said that cases continued to be at high levels and that hospitals were under strain even though infection numbers are decreasing in Osaka and Tokyo.

“Infection is on the decline these days; however, the situation is still unpredictable,” Suga said, according to the news outlet. “Considering these situations I have decided to extend the declaration.”

The move comes just a couple of months before the Olympics are slated to begin in Tokyo on July 23. Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo, asked the Japanese government for an extension to the state of emergency amid increasing coronavirus infections.

Foreign spectators are currently banned from attending the Olympic games, but athletes and support staff are still expected to attend the games.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department has advised Americans not to travel to Japan, citing a “high level” of COVID-19 in the country.

The extended state of emergency comes amid growing pressure to cancel the games.

Earlier this month, over 350,000 people petitioned Koike and the heads of the Olympic and Paralympic committees to cancel the Olympics. A doctors group in Japan also called for the games to be cancelled.

Japan has recorded 735,234 coronavirus infections since the pandemic began, and 12,691 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.