A state of emergency is set to be declared by Japan Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga late Thursday and take effect Friday - enforcing more rigid measures to contain a recent rise in COVID cases.
Prohibitions expected might last months with both the opposition and government advisers calling for broader action than current plans.
Japan's new infections nationwide hit at least 6,001, a new daily record based on a tally by national broadcaster NHK, as the government faced increasing pressure from health authorities to carry out a strict state of emergency for Tokyo's metropolitan area. Tokyo reported 1,591 cases - another record.
Occupancy of hospital beds for seriously sick COVID patients hit a peak of more than 30% at the end of last month. The number was as high as 65% in Osaka.
Suga is calling for "limited and concentrated" prohibition. The focus will be on restaurants and nightclubs, with schools to remain open. It will mark the country's second "soft lockdown," after the first emergency was declared in April.
Japan news media reported the lockdown would take effect Friday. The government is concerned about the economic effect of another pandemic-induced state of emergency as Japan prepares to host the Olympics in the summer.
Japan is entering the current state of crisis with virus cases in the capital averaging almost a thousand in the last week, although cases per capita are still below a tenth of those recorded in Europe, which has also returned to its strictest lockdown.
Without new measures, daily cases of the disease in Tokyo could almost rise threefold to 3,500 a day by February and reach 7,000 by March, simulations by Kyoto University scientist Hiroshi Nishiura showed.
