The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 17,631 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, marking a record high for the fourth straight day.
The day’s count surpassed the previous record of 16,538 cases posted Thursday.
The occupancy rate of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Tokyo stood at 46.1%, up 1.7 percentage points from Thursday.
The number of very ill patients under Tokyo’s criteria increased by two to 20. There were three new fatalities.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said the prefecture is expected to report around 10,000 cases Friday, posting a new record high. Aichi Prefecture posted 5,267 cases and Hyogo Prefecture 4,342 cases, also record highs.
Other prefectures that confirmed record high cases include Fukushima, Yamagata, Gifu, Fukui, Shiga, Nara, Oita and Kagoshima.
On Thursday, Japan reported 78,929 new coronavirus infection cases, hitting a record high for the third straight day.
The number of severely ill COVID-19 patients nationwide rose by 67 from Wednesday to 537, topping 500 for the first time since Oct. 9 last year. New fatalities reached 47 cases, the highest tally this year. New cases hit a record high in 27 of Japan’s 47 prefectures on Thursday.
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