Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga extended by two weeks a virus state of emergency for the Tokyo region that had been set to expire Sunday, trying to maintain a declining trend in infections as it looks to host the Olympics in about four months.

The move to prolong a nearly two month emergency already in place for the region was needed to prevent a fresh wave of infections from emerging, Suga said in a briefing Friday. The measure applies to Tokyo and the prefectures or Kanagawa, Chiba and Saitama, which have a combined population of about 36 million people.