Tokyo’s daily coronavirus tally tops 20,000 for 1st time since February

TOKYO. KAZINFORM - Tokyo confirmed 20,401 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, topping 20,000 for the first time since early February, as the country saw a record number of infections in several prefectures spurred by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant, Kyodo reports.

The number for the capital was the highest since it reported 21,110 coronavirus cases on Feb. 5. Four deaths were also reported, the metropolitan government said.

The number of patients is rapidly increasing across the country, with Gifu, Hyogo, and Okinawa, among other prefectures, logging record highs Wednesday.

Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said the number of new cases in the prefecture is expected to be about 22,000, a new high. Kanagawa Prefecture, near Tokyo, also said the daily tally is going to be a record at over 10,000.

Infection cases in the country had been kept relatively low until mid-June but started to shoot up recently as BA.5 rampaged through the country.

Shigeru Omi, the government's top COVID-19 adviser, said last week that Japan has entered its seventh wave of infections but also said there is no need to impose restrictions on people's movements for now.

Photo: english.kyodonews.net