TOKYO: The number of people who were newly confirmed to be infected with the novel coronavirus in Japan on Tuesday came to 81,678.

The daily figure exceeded 80,000 for the first time since Saturday, when a record 84,937 COVID-19 cases were logged.

Seriously ill coronavirus patients on Tuesday totaled 804, up by 21 from Monday, while 70 people with COVID-19 were confirmed dead.

In Tokyo, 14,445 new cases of novel coronavirus infection was confirmed on Tuesday, with the daily COVID-19 count topping 10,000 for the eighth straight day.

The figure was up by 1,632 from the week before. Five new fatalities were confirmed in the Japanese capital on Tuesday.

According to the metropolitan government, the occupancy rate for hospital beds for COVID-19 patients rose 1.5 percentage points from the previous day to 50.7 pct.

The metropolitan government has said it will consider asking the central government to declare a state of emergency if the bed occupancy reaches the threshold of 50 pct in line with a state standard.

Of the COVID-19 cases confirmed in Tokyo on Tuesday, those in their 20s made up the largest group, with 2,824 cases, followed by those in their 30s, at 2,549, those in their 40s, at 2,279 and those below the age of 10, at 2,079.

The number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms under Tokyo’s criteria stood at 29, up by three from the previous day.

Meanwhile, 12 prefectures rewrote their record highs for the daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday.

Among them, the western Japan prefecture of Osaka reported 11,881 new cases. The neighboring prefecture of Hyogo logged 4,944 cases, while the central Japan prefecture of Aichi confirmed 5,751 cases.

JIJI Press