TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Wednesday signalled his intention to end state of emergency curbs to prevent the spread of the coronavirus when they expire on Sunday.

Hospital bed conditions in the capital region have improved enough to allow for the measures to be lifted, Suga said.

“I will make a final decision towards ending the curbs, after listening to the views of experts,” Suga told reporters.

The government declared a state of emergency around New Year’s as Japan’s third and deadliest wave of COVID-19 cases took its toll.

Most prefectures affected by the declaration lifted the measures at the end of February, but greater Tokyo has remained under watch as the decline in new infections slowed.

Roughly 451,200 people have tested positive in Japan and nearly 9,000 have died since the pandemic reached the country.

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