Japan decides to expand COVID-19 state of emergency to 8 more prefs.

The Japanese government decided Wednesday to place eight more prefectures under its COVID-19 state of emergency as the country battles to contain a surge of infections increasingly driven by younger people and prevent a stretched medical system from collapse.The addition of Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima means that 21 of Japan's 47 prefectures are now under the state of emergency that includes Tokyo and Osaka, affecting over 75 percent of the population. The measure will run from Friday to Sept. 12.Vaccinations against COVID-19 have progressed in Japan but …READ FULL ARTICLE