Japan says it will remove more COVID curbs as infections ebb

Japan said on Wednesday it is lifting COVID-19 restrictions imposed on Tokyo and 17 other prefectures as a wave of infections caused by the Omicron variant ebbs. An Omicron wave led to record infection rates in the capital and throughout Japan in February, the nation's deadliest wave of the pandemic so far. Tokyo logged 10,221 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, down 13.6% from a week earlier. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a news conference that quasi-emergency restrictions would be lifted as of March 21 and the country would slowly start returning to normal, since new infections had dropped substantially.