2LT Local News

WASHINGTON D.C.: The U.S. government warned Americans not to travel to Japan on Monday due to the ongoing increase in COVID-19 cases.

The U.S. State Department has now issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for travel to Japan.

At the same time, Japan has declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and two other regions through the end of May.

Japan recorded 4,045 new COVID-19 cases and 62 deaths on Monday. Since the start of the pandemic there have been 722,630 infections reported and 12,351 fatalities in Japan, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Only 4.4 percent of Japan’s population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 49.4 percent in the United States.

Just last week, Japan approved the use of the Moderna and AstraZeneca vaccines. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was earlier approved for use in Japan.

Due to the spread of Covid in Japan, it is increasingly unclear whether the Summer Olympics in Tokyo will begin on July 23.