Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases top 10,000 for 1st time

TOKYO. KAZINFORM - Japan's daily total of COVID-19 cases topped 10,000 for the first time on Thursday, with Tokyo experiencing surging infections, casting a pall over the Olympics, Kyodo reports.

The capital confirmed an additional 3,865 cases the same day, logging a record figure for the third straight day and putting pressure on the government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to take stronger countermeasures.

The capital's seven-day rolling average of cases has risen to 2224.1 per day, up 61.9 percent from the previous week.

At a metropolitan government monitoring meeting Thursday, it was estimated that the seven-day rolling average would hit 4,532 on Aug. 11, three days after the Tokyo Olympics end.

Although foot traffic in downtown areas has slightly decreased, the surge in infections comes amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus.

The government has placed Tokyo under a fourth state of emergency, mostly relying on a cooperative public and does not entail a hard lockdown like some countries have imposed, from July 12 until Aug. 22.