Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday proposed a stimulus package worth some $1 trillion (108 trillion yen), which is 20 percent of the country's GDP.
"We hope to declare a state of emergency as early as tomorrow after listening to the opinions of the advisory panel," Abe told reporters.
The measures will affect Tokyo and its surroundings and six other prefectures. However, "unlike in the foreign countries, the cities will not be closed", Abe said.
Japan has registered 3,654 COVID-19 cases as of Monday, with 73 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.
At the same time, the total number of coronavirus cases worldwide has reached 1,174,855 as of today, with 64,471 fatalities.
