Tokyo is on its highest coronavirus alert level after a spike in new cases, the city's governor warned, as experts said the rising infections were a clear “red flag”, AFP reported.

However, the move to a “red” alert does not mean the city will ask businesses to close or events to be postponed. Even during a national state of emergency in April, there was no “lockdown” in Japan of the type seen in Europe.

“The experts just told us that the situation of infections is at the fourth level of the four-level system, which means 'the infections seem to be spreading,'” Governor Yuriko Koike said during a meeting on the virus.

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