TOKYO: Tokyo’s death toll from COVID-19 climbed by 21 from the previous day to 1,017 on Saturday.

The cumulative number of deaths from the new coronavirus came to 991 in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, drawing near the 1,000 mark.

Across the country, the day’s tally of new deaths among infected people came to 94.

The nationwide total of severely ill patients with the coronavirus came to 815 as of Saturday, down by 62 from the previous day, according to the health ministry.

In Tokyo, the daily increase of deaths reached 20 for the first time on Jan. 28 and hit a record high of 32 on Wednesday.

Osaka was the first among Japan’s 47 prefectures to see the cumulative number of coronavirus-linked fatalities surpass 900. As the daily increase of deaths in Tokyo continued to exceed 20 since Tuesday, however, the Japanese capital has topped the prefecture-level death toll list since Thursday.

On Saturday, the daily number of newly confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Tokyo came to 639, staying below 1,000 for the ninth consecutive day.

Of the new cases, 128 were confirmed among people in their 20s, 97 among those in their 30s and 86 among those in their 40s, while 182 involved those who are 65 or older.

Under the Tokyo metropolitan government’s standards, the number of severely ill patients with the coronavirus stood at 114 on the day, down by three from the previous day.

JIJI Press