Japan to completely lift domestic travel curbs over COVID-19

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that the government will lift travel restrictions across prefectural borders as scheduled on Friday, as the daily number of COVID-19 cases has been in check.

Abe made the announcement at a meeting of the government's task force on COVID-19. "We're raising the level of social and economic activities further," he said. "There will be no restrictions on movement (beyond prefectures)."

The Japanese government lifted a nationwide state of emergency on May 25. However, people have been advised to avoid non-essential travels to Tokyo and its three neighboring prefectures as well as the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, where the number of new cases remained relatively high.

Abe said all these restrictions will be removed from Friday. He also called on people to actively use a coronavirus contact-tracing smartphone app to be released on Friday.

According to the latest figures from the health ministry and local authorities on Thursday, the confirmed COVID-19 cases in Japan increased by 70 to reach 17,759, which excludes the 712 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama near Tokyo.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Japan from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 950 people, according to the health ministry, with the figure including those from the cruise ship.