TOKYO -- After extending Japan's state of emergency, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga now faces mounting pressure to bring COVID-19 under control quickly or risk jeopardizing the Tokyo Olympics and further harming the economy.
"I take full responsibility for not being able to lift the state of emergency in a month," Suga told lawmakers Tuesday, when he announced he would extend the state of emergency by another month. "I want to ask the Japanese people for their cooperation one more time."
