Commuters wearing face masks walk at Shinagawa Station in Tokyo on November 19, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

TOKYO, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The head of the Japanese government's subcommittee on the pandemic said on Thursday that if the number of COVID-19 cases remains flat or is reduced only slightly, then "stronger measures will be needed."

Shigeru Omi's remarks made during an upper house committee meeting came after the Japanese government a day earlier expanded its state of emergency to combat the third wave of infections to cover 11 prefectures nationwide.

These include Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, Aichi, Gifu, Fukuoka and Tochigi, in addition to Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures that were declared a week ago.

"It is impossible to maintain the current state of emergency declaration, and stronger measures will be needed," Omi, the government's top virus adviser, said.

"Requesting business closures is an option," he added during the committee meeting in the upper chamber.

Under the state of emergency, people are urged to refrain from going outside unnecessarily and restaurants to shorten their opening hours.

The initial declaration for the Greater Tokyo region took effect last Friday and along with the seven newly added prefectures will remain in place through Feb. 7.

Omi, the previous day, said that the shorter operating hours at bars and restaurants are effective to "some extent," but added that "reducing hours alone is not enough to curb infections."

"The most important thing now is to refrain from going out, both day and night," Omi said.

Japan's Minister in charge of economic and fiscal policy Yasutoshi Nishimura delivers a speech during a press conference at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo on September 17, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Japan's minister in charge of the coronavirus response, Yasutoshi Nishimura, meanwhile, said that the virus emergency could be expanded yet further depending on how effective the latest expansion proves to be.

"More prefectures could be added to the state of emergency area depending on the infection situation."

"We are thinking of various measures by considering the worst-case scenario and a situation in which the number of infections does not turn to a decline," Nishimura said.

President of the Japan Medical Association Toshio Nakagawa, for his part, said Wednesday the government should "consider a nationwide state of emergency as an option to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus and ease the strain on the medical system."

Nakagawa said that as the medical system becomes increasingly overwhelmed some hospitals have been forced to turn away patients.

During a meeting of a panel of experts and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday, one expert said the situation in Tokyo has become so serious that the number of new cases is starting to exceed capacity at hospitals and other designated facilities, Japan's public broadcaster NHK reported.

The experts said the situation is very serious and stressed that the number of new cases of the coronavirus must be thoroughly curbed.

Another expert said that "to prevent the healthcare system in Tokyo from collapsing, it is vitally important to reduce the number of new infections, and in particular, the number of serious cases."

"The spike in new infections in Tokyo is overwhelming the ability of public health centers to find hospitals that can accept COVID-19 patients," the expert was quoted as saying.