'Please avoid going out,' Japan's Abe appeals as coronavirus crisis widens

Commuters wearing masks make their way on a street in Tokyo Friday, April 17, 2020. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has expanded a state of emergency to all of Japan from just Tokyo and other urban areas as the virus continues to spread. - Kyodo/AP

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a forceful appeal to the nation on Friday to stay indoors to avoid further coronavirus contagion, in his starkest remarks since the crisis began.

New cases hit a daily record in the capital, Tokyo, before the speech in which Abe said this week's nationwide expansion of a state of emergency was prompted partly by fear that medical services could fail in rural areas home to many elderly.