Japan appears to be out of the woods regarding its latest Covid-19 wave due to the contagious Delta variant, allowing Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to end a state of emergency as planned on Friday, in one of his last acts in office.

Mr Suga's successor will be chosen today by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in an internal party election contested by four candidates. A tight race is expected between vaccination minister Taro Kono and former foreign minister Fumio Kishida.

The Diet will then convene next Monday to confirm the new prime minister, which will be a formality since the LDP's coalition has a majority in both Houses of Parliament.

There were 1,723 Covid-19 cases nationwide yesterday - down from the peak of 25,868 infections on Aug 20. The capital Tokyo, which is about three times larger than Singapore in size and population, had just 248 cases, down from a high of 5,773 on Aug 13.

Singapore's Covid-19 battle rarely made headlines in Japan until recently, with domestic media citing the ongoing Delta-linked surge as a cautionary tale against letting down the guard even as vaccinations take off.

Mr Suga, likewise, yesterday urged vigilance, given that the looming winter months may trigger a sixth wave, with indoor heating causing poorer ventilation and as millions of people are expected to criss-cross the country for homecoming visits.

His year-long tenure as prime minister has been marred by plenty of criticism over seemingly never-ending Covid-19 curbs - Friday will be only the 29th day this year that Tokyo is not under an emergency or quasi-emergency - and Mr Suga's inability to communicate with the public.

But he leaves behind a country that is a lot more confident in coping with future waves of Covid-19.

"I know that there were many people who were critical of me, but we can say that these treatments and vaccines are effective, and we do truly see a light at the end of the tunnel," Mr Suga told a news conference yesterday.

"From now on, we must assume that we will live with the virus and make our society more resilient so as to balance daily activities and anti-virus measures."

Among other things, Mr Suga stressed that a framework is now in place to ensure that hospital beds can be secured more quickly in case of future Covid-19 waves.

He noted how up to 130,000 people have had to recuperate at home in the fifth wave, while he had drawn flak for a controversial policy to hospitalise only the sickest Covid-19 patients. Many, however, died at home after their condition worsened.

Further, despite being slow off the blocks in its vaccination programme, Japan has not only already fully immunised 58 per cent of its population but is also on track to double-dose all those who are keen by November.

Mr Suga said that the country has already secured 200 million doses of vaccines for booster shots - which will be more than necessary for its entire population - and will progressively start administering them by year end.

Meanwhile, Japan has been beefing up its arsenal of coronavirus treatments with a fifth drug - sotrovimab from Britain's GlaxoSmithKline and the US' Vir Biotechnology - approved on Monday.

On the same day, pharmacies were also allowed to begin sales of self-test antigen rapid test kits that Mr Suga hoped would quell worries of infection.

"The fight will now enter a new phase. Vaccine roll-out is accelerating. The risk of infection was high but we were able to contain this, while neutralising antibody treatments have helped to reduce the number of severe cases," Mr Suga said.

Much of Japan has been under a Covid-19 emergency for most of the year.