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TOKYO, April 21 (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister
Yoshihide Suga has cancelled plans to visit India and the
Philippines during his country's extended holiday starting in
late April amid a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases, a senior
government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Japan's government is considering a state of emergency for
Tokyo and several other prefectures, while Indian data showed on
Wednesday there had been 295,041 new infections nationwide
overnight and 2,023 deaths, India's highest in the pandemic.
Asked about media reports that Suga's trip to the two
countries has been cancelled, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu
Kato said: "In order to take all possible coronavirus
countermeasures, it has been decided Prime Minister Suga won't
take any overseas trips during the Golden Week."
Japan and India are members of a group known as the Quad,
which also includes the United States and Australia.
Quad leaders last month pledged to work to ensure a free and
open Indo-Pacific region and to cooperate on maritime, cyber and
economic security, issues vital to the four democracies in the
face of challenges from China.
Suga's India trip would have enabled him to hold his first
in-person summit meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi. Suga has already held face-to-face talks with two other
leaders from the Quad - U.S. President Joe Biden and Australian
Prime Minister Scott Morrison.