Japan emergency called in tense Asia

TOKYO－Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared a state of emergency on Tuesday for Tokyo and six other prefectures in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The declaration, effective through May 6, will enable local authorities to take stronger steps, including asking citizens to refrain from unnecessary outings and restricting the operation of schools and other facilities. The other prefectures covered are Osaka, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Hyogo and Fukuoka.

Japan has so far been spared the sort of virus outbreak seen in parts of Europe and the United States, with close to 4,000 confirmed infections and 80 deaths.

Also on Tuesday, China Construction Bank donated 50,000 masks to Chinese students in Japan through the Chinese embassy in Tokyo.

South Korea reported 47 new cases on Tuesday, bringing the nation's number of infections to 10,331. It has recorded around 100 or fewer daily cases for more than three weeks, but health authorities remain on high alert over cluster infections and cases coming from overseas.

Singapore on Tuesday entered the first day of a month-long partial lockdown to try to curb a sharp rise in infections. Schools were scheduled to close from Wednesday, with the tougher restrictions set to last a month.

The country reported 66 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total infections to 1,375. Over half of the new cases are linked to existing clusters.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei approved a government request for tapping into the sovereign wealth fund to finance the nationwide fight against the pandemic, Press TV reported.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the $1.08 billion fund should be used to supply drugs and vital medical equipment, and domestic suppliers should be given priority.

The government also announced plans to repay loans for low-income households as well as for small and medium-sized businesses to tackle COVID-19 losses.

Iran on Tuesday reported 133 new deaths from the virus, bringing the total number of officially confirmed fatalities to 3,872. Since the previous day, 2,089 new cases had been recorded across the country. That brought the number of confirmed cases to 62,589.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Monday a complete lockdown over the upcoming Passover holiday to control the country's coronavirus outbreak, which has infected nearly 9,000 Israelis and killed 57.

From Tuesday afternoon, Israel banned movement between cities. From Wednesday evening until Thursday morning, Israelis will not be allowed to leave their homes.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday that Africa will not become a testing ground for any vaccines against COVID-19. "Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine. We will follow all the rules to test any vaccine or therapeutics all over the world using exactly the same rule, whether it's in Europe, Africa or wherever," he said.

Wang Xu in Tokyo, Xinhua and agencies contributed to this story.