What you get when pathological lying is in your cultural DNA...

Japan is extending a state of emergency in Tokyo and expanding it to new regions as the Olympic Games host faces a surge in Covid-19 cases. 

The restrictions are being imposed in areas surrounding the capital as well as in the city of Osaka.

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga warned infections were spreading at an unprecedented rate, urging the country to watch the Games from home.

New cases are being fuelled by the more infectious Delta variant.

"If the increase of infection does not stop, the severe symptoms cases will increase and the medical system may possibly be further under strain," Mr Suga said. 

Earlier, Health Minister Norihisa Tamura warned that the country had entered a new, "extremely frightening", stage of the pandemic.