Tokyo, May 25 -- Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday lifted the state of emergency, imposed to contain the coronavirus pandemic, in the remaining five prefectures, including Tokyo and Hokkaido.

This covers Tokyo, the prefectures of Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, as well as Hokkaido in northern Japan.The government has now lifted the emergency across the whole of the country, allowing citizens to go out freely and businesses to resume operations."The state of emergency is lifted on all the country's territory," Abe said at a press conference, according to Kyodo News.Japan's Economic revitalization minister Yasutoshi Nishimura told the panel at a meeting on Monday, that the government will establish a transitional period and assess ...