Tokyo restaurants to cut hours as coronavirus returns

Restaurants and karaoke bars in Tokyo will be asked to reduce their opening hours from next week to curb a new spike on coronavus cases, city governor Yuriko Koike said Thursday.

Japan's capital reported 367 new cases on Thursday, its highest for a single day.

Koike said the Tokyo metropolitan area may issue a state of emergency if things get worse.

Japan imposed a nationwide state of emergency in April, ordering businesses to close and requiring people to work from home.

But the restrictions were lifted in late May.

Since then, Tokyo has seen an increasing number of cases amid a shortage of accommodation facilities to house patients with mild symptoms.

The new measures for Tokyo mean stores and other businesses will only be allowed to open between 5am and 10pm.

Stores affected by the restriction will be offered 200,000 yen (1,903 US dollars) in compensation.

The measure is due to last until the end of August.

The number of infection cases has also been surging elsewhere in Japan, with other major cities such as Osaka and Aichi Prefectures hitting the highest infection cases this week.

Japan has more than 31,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, and about 1,000 deaths.