TOKYO, Aug 20 (NNN-NHK) – Japan reported 261,029 new COVID-19 cases nationwide, yesterday, setting a record high for the second day in a row, as the country faces the seventh wave of infections.
The daily tally eclipsed the previous record of 255,534 cases, registered on Thursday, with 19 of the country’s 47 prefectures seeing record high numbers of daily infections, including Hokkaido with 8,632, Nagasaki with 4,611, Miyagi with 4,567, Hiroshima with 8,775 and Fukuoka with 15,726.
The number of infected people hospitalised with severe symptoms came to 627, up 17 from Thursday, with 294 new fatalities confirmed.
The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 27,676 new cases, an increase of 223 from Thursday. Twenty-eight new deaths related to COVID-19 were reported in the capital.
The health ministry’s experts said, at a meeting on Thursday that, Japan is continuing to see “the highest infection levels so far,” and warned that COVID-19 deaths could increase further.
Japan reported 1,395,301 cases in the week from Aug 8 to Aug 14, the highest weekly number of new cases in the world, for the fourth week in a row, followed by South Korea and the United States, local media Kyodo News reported, citing the latest weekly update on coronavirus infections of the World Health Organisation.– NNN-NHK
