The daily number of novel coronavirus infection cases newly confirmed in Japan came to 20,365 on Friday, exceeding 20,000 for the first time. 

The daily count hit a record high for the third straight day, eclipsing the previous day’s 18,889 cases. New COVID-19 fatalities totaled 26 across the country.

On Friday, Tokyo confirmed a record 5,773 infection cases, up by 1,258 from a week before. The previous daily record for the Japanese capital was 5,042 marked on Aug. 5.

The number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms, recognized under the metropolitan government’s standards, rose by nine from Thursday to 227, hitting a record high for the fourth successive day.

The number of severely ill coronavirus patients across Japan rose by 74 to a record 1,478, the health ministry said. The previous record of 1,413 was logged on May 26.

Very ill COVID-19 patients nationwide increased nearly fourfold in about a month. The number stood at 424 on July 13 and 376 on July 16.

On Friday, daily new infection cases also hit record highs in the prefectures of Iwate, Ibaraki, Gunma, Saitama, Chiba, Kanagawa, Niigata, Nagano, Shizuoka, Mie, Kyoto, Ehime, Saga, Kumamoto and Kagoshima.

JIJI Press