Emergency status lifted in five areas

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe lifted a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and four other remaining areas Monday, ending the restrictions nationwide as businesses begin to reopen.

Experts on a governmentcommissioned panel approved the lifting of the emergency in Tokyo, neighboring Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama prefectures, and in Hokkaido to the north, which had more cases and remained under the emergency declaration after it was removed in most of Japan earlier this month.

Abe said the lifting of the emergency doesn’t mean the end of the outbreak. He said the goal is to balance preventive measures and the economy until vaccines and effective drugs become available.

Charly Triballeau / AFP via Getty Images Japan lifted a state of emergency over the coronavirus on Monday, gradually reopening the world’s third-largest economy as government officials warned caution was still necessary.