With a major holiday ahead, Japan broadens state of emergency

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan declared a nationwide state of emergency as coronavirus cases in the country continued a monthlong sharp rise that pushed its total past 8,000.

The move expands the emergency he declared for seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka. It gives governors the authority to call on businesses to close and residents to stay inside, but no enforcement power.

Mr. Abe acted ahead of Golden Week, a popular travel period. Experts warn that when it begins on April 29, people could spread the virus to previously unaffected areas, which would overwhelm their health systems.

We also have the latest updates on the pandemic, as well as maps of its spread.

After President Trump suspended U.S. funding to the World Health Organization and accused it of mismanaging the crisis, our reporters looked at the agency’s response during the early days of the outbreak and found that it sounded the alarm early and often.

An additional 5.2 million U.S. workers have filed for unemployment benefits. In the last four weeks, the number of unemployment claims has reached 22 million — roughly the net number of jobs created since the end of the Great Recession nine and a half years ago.

Britain extended its lockdown by three weeks, amid signs that the country is nearing the peak of its coronavirus outbreak. More than 13,700 have died in the country. The Times has learned that Britain spent $20 million on unguaranteed test kits from two Chinese companies that did not work.

New York State, the epicenter of the global outbreak, will remain shut until May 15. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the extension even as he noted that the rate of hospitalizations and deaths had slowed. The state has more than 213,700 cases and more than 11,500 deaths, with New York City the hardest hit.

Nursing homes are among the places hardest-hit by the pandemic. Thirty-one people were found dead at a facility in Montreal over a month and 17 at a home in New Jersey.

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