Little change was seen in the flow of commuters at major train stations in Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures Friday morning as a fresh state of emergency came into effect in the metropolitan area to stop the spread of COVID-19.

The situation was in stark contrast to last April, when stations were nearly empty as a coronavirus state of emergency was imposed for the first time in Japan.

At Shinagawa Station in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, rows of commuters were passing through ticket gates around 8 a.m.

A 56-year-old employee from Yokohama said she will shift to telework next week. She said teleworking can be inconvenient by making communication with colleagues difficult, for example.

At the same time, she said: “It’s natural that a state of emergency has been put in place because the number of coronavirus cases is growing. The measure should have come much earlier.”