Asia Today: Tokyo residents urged to 'stay home' with family

TOKYO (AP) — Tokyo is seeing a record surge in coronavirus cases as the governor of the Japanese capital implored people to stay home.

“The coronavirus knows no year end or New Year’s holidays,” Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters.

She asked people to skip countdown ceremonies, and expressed concern people were out shopping in crowded stores.

“Please spend a quiet New Year’s with your family and stay home,” she said, switching to English for “stay home.”

She said the latest figures for Tokyo showed 1,300 new infections. The previous biggest daily number of cases for the capital was 949 people reported last Saturday.

A vaccine rollout in Japan is expected months after the U.S. and parts of Europe.

There has been no lockdown in Japan, just requests for social distancing and mask wearing, as the government juggles encouraging business activity with containing health risks.

Japan has had more than 230,000 cases of COVID-19 and more than 3,000 deaths. Sixty-five of the deaths came on Wednesday, the health ministry said Thursday.

Government-backed discounts for travel have been discontinued after infections started climbing.

In other developments around the Asia-Pacific region:

— South Korea has enforced its toughest physical distancing rules at correctional facilities after a cluster of coronavirus infections flared at a Seoul prison. The Justice Ministry says 918 people — 897 inmates and 21 staff — at Seoul’s Dongbu Detention Center have tested positive for the virus since one of the center's officials was found infected on Nov. 27. One of the infected inmates has died. South Korea is struggling to contain a viral resurgence tied to a variety of sources. Earlier Thursday, South Korea reported 967 new virus cases, taking the country’s total to...