All national dailies wrote that the governors of Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo asked Economic Revitalization Minister Nishimura on Tuesday to lift the state of emergency for their prefectures at the end of February by citing improvements in the coronavirus situation, including declines in the numbers of new coronavirus cases per day and low occupancy rates of hospital beds set aside for seriously ill COVID-19 patients. Aichi Prefecture separately made a similar request to Nishimura. The papers wrote that Prime Minister Suga will discuss the issue today with relevant cabinet ministers and make a decision by the end of this week after consulting with experts.

Meanwhile, the governors of Tokyo, Saitama, Chiba, and Kanagawa agreed at an online meeting on Tuesday not to file a request at this juncture for the GOJ to lift the state of emergency for their prefectures ahead of schedule based on the view that the rate of decline in the numbers of new cases in their prefectures has leveled off recently. The governors are planning to call on their residents to continue to thoroughly implement preventive steps so that the emergency declaration for their prefectures will be lifted on March 7 as scheduled.