Japan Reports 641 New COVID-19 Cases... Falls Below 1,000 for the First Time in Five Days

People carrying parasols are crossing the crosswalk in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo, Japan.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] The number of new COVID-19 cases in Japan fell below 1,000 for the first time in five days.

According to NHK on the 17th, a total of 641 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed by 8:30 PM based on announcements from each prefecture.

Recently, Japan's daily COVID-19 cases had remained in the 1,000 range continuously for six days from the 4th to the 9th, then dropped to triple digits from the 10th to the 12th, before rising again to the 1,000 range from the 13th to the 16th.

However, the drop below 1,000 new cases on the 17th is also likely influenced by insufficient COVID-19 testing conducted over the weekend, Saturday and Sunday. Japan's daily new COVID-19 case trend has shown a tendency to decrease somewhat every Monday.

As a result, Japan's cumulative number of COVID-19 cases, including 712 passengers from the cruise ship "Diamond Princess," where a cluster infection occurred last February, has reached a total of 57,566. The number of deaths among confirmed cases increased by 15 on this day, totaling 1,132.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.