Japan's Prime Minister on Monday extended a nationwide state of emergency over the coronavirus pandemic until the end of May, after government officials warned it was too soon to ease restrictions.  

"I will extend the period of the state of emergency I declared on April 7 until May 31. The area covered is all prefectures in the nation," Shinzo Abe said after a meeting to discuss the measures. 

Abe declared a month-long state of emergency that initially covered Tokyo and six other regions on April 7, later expanding it to cover the entire country. 

It had been due to expire on Wednesday, but the country's minister for the virus response Yasutoshi Nishimura said earlier that new infections were still growing.

"The number of new cases has declined, but unfortunately the decrease has not reached the targeted level," he said during a meeting with an expert panel advising the government on the pandemic.  

"As the healthcare sector remains under pressure, we need continued cooperation from people," Nishimura added, as he believed that the pace of the declining of newly confirmed cases is not fast enough.  

Japan's state of emergency is significantly less restrictive than measures seen in parts of Europe and the United States. It allows governors to urge people stay at home and call on businesses to stay shut. 

But officials can't compel citizens to comply, and there are no punishments for those who fail to do so.

Local reports said the government would continue to urge residents in 13 high-risk prefectures, including Japan's biggest cities, to cut person-to-person contact by 80 percent and exercise other strict social distancing rules. 

But parks, museums, libraries and some other facilities are likely to be allowed to reopen so long as they take anti-virus measures. 

For the rest of Japan, prefectures will be allowed to loosen restrictions on business closures and small gatherings but residents will still be asked not to travel outside their home regions. Bars and nightclubs will be asked to remain shut. 

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Japan has reported a comparatively small scale outbreak, with more than 15,000 infections and 510 deaths so far. 

But there have been persistent fears about a spike in infections that could quickly overwhelm the country's healthcare system. 

Measures have been implemented to try to ease the pressure, including sending coronavirus patients with mild symptoms to hotels for quarantine and increasing testing capacity. 

Japan's parliament last week approved an extra budget to fund a record a 1.1-trillion-dollar stimulus package.

(With input from agencies)