Tokyo governor warns of possible 'explosion' in COVID-19 cases

TOKYO: The coronavirus situation in Tokyo is quite severe and the Japanese capital could potentially face an "explosion" of COVID-19 cases, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said on Wednesday (Dec 30) ahead of the New Year's holiday.

"Please emphasise life over fun," she told a news conference, calling on people to stay at home as much as possible over the holiday, one of Japan's longest, in which people hold parties, gather in their homes and return to their hometowns from the capital.

The number of new coronavirus patients in Tokyo was 856 on Tuesday.

READ: Former minister dies of COVID-19 as Japan closes to foreigners

Japan on Monday detected a coronavirus variant found in South Africa, the government said, the first such discovery in a nation that has already identified more than a dozen cases of another variant that is spreading rapidly in Britain.

The announcement of the detection of the South Africa-linked variant comes after the Japanese government on Monday started banning the entry of non-resident foreign nationals following the discovery of the UK variant in Japan.

READ: Japan's Suga urges citizens to have a quiet and distanced New Year

Japan has deals to buy 120 million doses of the COVID-19 from Pfizer-BioNTech in the first half of 2021 and 120 million from AstraZeneca - the first 30 million to be shipped by March 2021 - and 250 million from Novavax.

It is also in talks with Johnson & Johnson, and has a deal with Shionogi & Co Ltd.

Experts said vaccine makers would need to run at least Phase I and II trials in Japan before seeking approval for use.

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