According to the media outlet, citing officials, the panel's focus will likely center around the duration of the possible state of emergency and which areas should be put under the new restrictions.

On Saturday, the governors of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba asked the government to declare the state of emergency, as measures taken so far have not yielded positive results and the number of COVID-19 cases continued to grow.

Earlier in the day, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga held a meeting with Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and other senior officials, who briefed Suga about the current situation in the country.

Japan has so far registered almost 246,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 3,600 fatalities.