TOKYO, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Japanese government on Thursday decided to lift the COVID-19 quasi-state of emergency currently in effect for three prefectures at the end of Sunday amid signs the rate of COVID-19 infections is on a decline.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, set to depart for Britain later today to attend Group of Seven (G7) summit, finalized the decision after the plan was approved earlier in the day by the government's expert advisory panel on COVID-19.

The quasi-state of emergency measures in place for Gunma, Ishikawa and Kumamoto prefectures since May 16, are set to end on Sunday as per the original schedule.

Under the quasi-state of emergency, the affected prefectures have seen bans placed on restaurants serving alcohol and such businesses required to close by 8 p.m.

In addition, attendance at large events has been capped at 5,000 people.

Those not following the anti-virus measures are subjected to smaller fines, however, than those breaking the rules in prefectures under a fully-fledged state of emergency.

Amid concerns over the spread of highly contagious variants of the COVID-19 virus, 10 prefectures including Tokyo and Osaka remain under a fully-fledged state of emergency set to end on June 20.

Japan has been grappling with a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections and its third state of emergency initially covered Tokyo and three other prefectures from April 25 and was set to expire on May 11.

It was subsequently extended to cover 10 prefectures with the deadline extended to June 20, in bid to curb the spread of the virus and its highly transmissible variants.

The emergency measures have seen a decline in new daily COVID-19 cases, with infections nationwide dropping from up to around 7,000 cases a day in early May, to just over 2,200 new infections reported on Wednesday.

The government has also quickened the pace of its vaccination campaign following criticism over its slow rollout with the Tokyo Olympics scheduled to kick off in just over a month.

Suga has pledged to finish vaccinating Japan's population of about 126 million by November, although concerns remain as just 4 percent of the population had been fully vaccinated as of Wednesday.

A decision on lifting the quasi-state of emergency still in effect for Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Gifu and Mie prefectures until June 20, will be made next week, the government also said. Enditem

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