Japan has approved the use of two new vaccines — Moderna and AstraZeneca — hours ahead of an expansion of a state of coronavirus emergency that will cover roughly 40 per cent of the population, AP reports. It’s the latest effort to contain a worrying surge in infections nine weeks ahead of the opening of the Tokyo Olympics.

Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said the two new vaccines will help speed up inoculations.

Japan has administered one or more vaccine doses to roughly five million people, or just four per cent of the population, using Pfizer shots that were approved in February.

A quicker vaccine rollout is seen as key to Japan’s ability to contain a worsening spread of the coronavirus.

Following local vaccine rollouts at cities and towns across the country, the government on Monday will open mass-vaccination sites in two of the country’s biggest metropolitan areas, Tokyo and Osaka, with the goal of administering the shots to up to 15,000 elderly people a day. The sites will use the Moderna shots.