TOKYO: Japan logged 1,918 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, as well as 21 new deaths among infected people, including six in Tokyo.

The number of severely ill coronavirus patients increased by eight from the previous day to 328.

In Tokyo, 420 people newly tested positive for the coronavirus, including 89 in their 20s, 62 in their 30s, 55 in their 40s and 103 aged 65 or older.

The capital’s daily coronavirus tally hit the highest level so far this month and surpassed 400 for the first time since March 17, when the daily figure topped the threshold for the first time in a month.

The number of severely ill patients under the Tokyo metropolitan government’s standards stood at 42.

The northeastern prefecture of Miyagi recorded 171 new coronavirus cases, its record high.

In the western prefecture of Osaka, the daily count of new cases came to 262, rising above 200 for the first time since Feb. 5 and hitting the highest level since the prefecture exited a state of emergency over the pandemic early this month.

Meanwhile, the health ministry said Wednesday that coronavirus variants were newly detected in 150 people across the country in the week through Tuesday, up from 128 in the preceding week.

A total of 549 cases of coronavirus variants have been found in Japan. Of them, the British variant accounts for 501 cases.

By prefecture, the number of coronavirus variant cases rose by 67 from the previous week to 161 in the western prefecture of Hyogo and by 33 to 105 in Osaka.

JIJI Press