TOKYO — The Japanese government declared Wednesday to expand the COVID-19 state of emergency to Hokkaido, Miyagi, Gifu, Aichi, Mie, Shiga, Okayama and Hiroshima amid the country"s latest resurgence of infections. Tokyo and 12 other prefectures have already been covered by the emergency state. The measures will come into effect on Friday in the newly added eight prefectures until Sept. 12 in all areas under the state of emergency. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga finalized the decision at a task force meeting following approval by a panel of experts on infectious diseases and other fields. Under the state of emergency, restaurants are requested not to provide karaoke service, and are instructed to close by 8:00 p.m. local time. Major commercial facilities such as department stores are asked to limit the number of customers allowed in at the same time. A quasi-state of emergency with loose restrictive measures will be put in place for Kochi, Saga, Nagasaki and Miyazaki prefectures. Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the COVID-19 response, said medical services will be immediately revamped in the prefectures under the state of emergency, and that thorough anti-infection actions will be in place at schools as they reopen for the new term, according to local media. Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the government is considering a plan to use some reserve funds for fiscal 2021 set aside for COVID-19 countermeasures to secure additional vaccines. — Agencies