Japan confirmed a record 3,743 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, including a record 888 in Tokyo.

The number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms across the country rose by 25 to a record high of 644.

Seven other prefectures reported record numbers of new cases. They were Kanagawa, at 495, Aichi, at 270, Saitama, at 251, Chiba, at 234, Kyoto, at 107, Nagasaki, at 35, and Kagawa, at 27.

The country reported 54 new deaths from the virus.

In Tokyo, there were 93 new cases among people aged 65 or older. The number of seriously ill patients with COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the coronavirus, grew by four to 73.

The spike in new cases in the capital comes after a record 12,604 coronavirus tests were administered on Monday. It usually takes three days for tests to produce results.

In Chiba, east of Tokyo, 35 male students at Seiwa University in Kisarazu, all members of the university judo team and living in a dormitory, tested positive for the virus in a cluster.

In the island village of Iheya in Okinawa Prefecture, southernmost Japan, a cluster involving 30 people has emerged. The virus apparently spread from a restaurant that was visited by someone from outside the island in late November, prefectural officials said.

JIJI Press