Japan had 507 new confirmed cases of the virus for a national total of 7,255, plus 712 others from a cruise ship quarantined earlier this year near Tokyo, with 114 deaths. Tokyo alone had 166 cases, with a prefectural total at 2,068 cases, or about a quarter of the nation’s total. Tokyo is under a state of emergency declared by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe last week, along with six other prefectures. Saitama, north of Tokyo, started non-essential business closures today, and its Gov. Motohiro Ono said he planned to ask the central government financial support for the prefecture’s planned compensation for the business closures.

Source: The Standard April 13, 2020 02:48 UTC