Tokyo: A Japanese health ministry panel of experts said Friday that a certain level of COVID-19 resurgence may occur in the country in summer as the number of new infection cases has been rising since the status of the disease was downgraded in May.

The number of new COVID-19 cases in the week through Sunday grew 1.12 fold from the previous week to 25,163, or 5.11 per hospital, according to a fixed-point survey covering designated hospitals across the country.

New cases rose in 36 of the country’s 47 prefectures. By prefecture, the average was highest in Okinawa, at 18.41, followed by Kagoshima, at 7.37, and Ishikawa, at 6.58.

The panel, which advises the ministry on COVID-19 responses, met for the first time since May 8, when the virus was downgraded to a lower-risk infectious disease category that includes seasonal flu.

New infection cases are expected to continue rising, but it is difficult to predict how far infections will spread, Takaji Wakita, chair of the panel and head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told a press conference after the meeting.

He called on people with high risks of developing severe symptoms to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

At the meeting, the ministry reported that the proportion of people with antibodies created after COVID-19 infection came to 42.8 pct nationwide in a preliminary survey, up from 42.0 pct in the previous survey in February.

JIJI Press