KITAKYUSHU (Tokyo): Twenty-one new cases of novel coronavirus infection were confirmed in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, on Thursday, the city government said.

The city found new infection cases for the sixth straight day. Thursday's figure matched the daily record high for the city that was marked on April 1. Kitakyushu is now increasingly concerned about a possible second wave of infection hitting the city.

In Tokyo on Thursday, 15 new cases were confirmed. Tokyo saw a double-digit figure for the third consecutive day, after the daily number stood at eight on Monday.

At Musashino Central Hospital in the city of Koganei in Tokyo, four workers and five patients have tested positive for the novel coronavirus by Thursday. Some other patients have developed fever.

This is believed to be the first coronavirus infection cluster in Tokyo since the Japanese government lifted its state of emergency over the epidemic for the nation's capital on Monday. The Tokyo metropolitan government asked the health ministry to send a response team to the hospital.

Elsewhere in the country, 10 people in Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo, and seven in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido tested positive for the virus on Thursday.

JIJI Press