TOKYO: Japan’s daily count of coronavirus cases stood at 18,859 on Thursday, exceeding 15,000 for the first time since Sept. 4 last year.

Many prefectures reported record daily numbers, including Okinawa, Hiroshima and Yamaguchi under the state-designated coronavirus pre-emergency state.

The Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed 3,124 cases, while Osaka Prefecture in western Japan logged 2,452 cases.

In Okinawa, southernmost Japan, the daily count reached 1,817 cases, exceeding the previous record of 1,759 cases marked Saturday. Thursday’s tally was about double the week before level.

Hiroshima posted 805 cases, and Yamaguchi reported 218 cases. Niigata, Fukui, Nagano, Shiga, Wakayama, Shimane, Ehime and Nagasaki also reported record cases.

Tokyo’s daily tally topped 3,000 for the first time since Sept. 2 last year. Thursday’s number represented a fivefold increase from a week before.

Cases in their 20s numbered 1,093, accounting for the largest portion of Thursday’s total by age group. People under 40 made up about 70 pct of the total cases.

The number of severely ill COVID-19 patients under the metropolitan government’s criteria stood at four, unchanged from Wednesday.

Osaka’s daily infection cases stood above 2,000 for the first time since Sept. 8 last year, jumping nearly fivefold from a week earlier.

The central prefecture of Aichi posted 1,036 cases, topping 1,000 for the first time since Sept. 10 last year.

Across Japan, the number of severely ill patients grew by 20 from Wednesday to 125. There were four new fatalities.

In Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, a woman in her 90s or over suspected to be infected with the omicron variant has been confirmed dead. The prefecture is conducting genomic analysis of the case.

According to the health ministry, the cumulative number of omicron cases confirmed in Japan had reached 3,155 as of 9 p.m. Wednesday. Of them, 1,771 cases had unknown infection routes.

JIJI Press