Olympics Approaching, Tokyo Sees Surge in COVID-19 Cases... Over 1,000 New Infections Daily

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suhwan] The number of new COVID-19 cases in the Tokyo area of Japan, nine days before the Olympics, is showing a surge.

On the 14th, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced that 1,149 new COVID-19 infections were confirmed in Tokyo.

This is the first time in two months that Tokyo's daily new cases have exceeded 1,000 since May 13 of this year (1,010 cases), when the third state of emergency was in effect.

The number of cases on this day surpassed the May 8 figure (1,121 cases), which was the highest during the third state of emergency period classified as the fourth wave.

Earlier, the Japanese government declared a fourth state of emergency for six weeks from the 12th, covering the entire Olympic period until the 22nd of next month, to curb the spread of COVID-19 in the Tokyo area ahead of the Olympics.

However, due to the influence of the Delta variant, which is known to be more contagious, the number of cases in Tokyo is continuing to rise.

In Tokyo, the daily new cases have increased for 25 consecutive days compared to the same day of the previous week as of this day.

Also, the average daily cases in Tokyo over the past seven days reached 823, a 30% increase within one week.

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