THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 8, 2021 at 18:07 JST
Hozenji Yokocho, an alley with restaurants and bars in Osaka’s busy Minami district, on Jan. 6 (Takaharu Yagi)
Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures will ask the central government to declare a state of emergency covering the Keihanshin region as early as on Jan. 9 to deal with the spread of COVID-19.
Osaka officials decided to coordinate the request with the neighboring Kyoto and Hyogo prefectural governments at a meeting of Osaka Prefecture’s COVID-19 task force on Jan. 8. They also decided to ask restaurants and bars in Osaka city to continue to close at 9 p.m. until the state of emergency is issued.
The request is currently effective until Jan. 11.
Once a state of emergency is declared, the targeted businesses will likely be asked to close at 8 p.m.
Residents of Osaka Prefecture will also be asked to refrain from traveling to and from Tokyo and Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba prefectures, which are already under the state of emergency.
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