Just worth recapping a Nikkei story...........>

JAPAN: Just worth recapping a Nikkei story released overnight: "Japan will lift

the state of emergency in Osaka, Kyoto and Hyogo prefectures in a move expected

to quickly normalize business in the western part of the country, Nikkei has

learned. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with economic and fiscal policy minister

Yasutoshi Nishimura and health minister Katsunobu Kato on Wednesday to see if

the state of emergency could be lifted in eight prefectures still under

restrictions. Abe lifted the state of emergency in 39 of 47 prefectures on May

14. Currently, the declaration remains in place for eight, including Tokyo,

Osaka, Hokkaido and Chiba. Abe will make a final decision after a meeting on

Thursday with a government advisory committee of medical and economic experts.

The government has set several criteria to ease restrictions, one of which

stipulates that new infections should be less than 0.5 per 100,000 persons for

the latest week. The government will also examine medical capabilities and

testing capacity for polymerase chain reaction, or PCR."