Japan's COVID-19 Cases Hit Record High for Three Consecutive Days... Calls for 'City Lockdown'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Japan's new COVID-19 cases have recorded the highest number for three consecutive days.

Metropolitan governors have argued that strong measures such as a "city lockdown" should be considered to reduce the floating population.

On the 20th, 25,876 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed across Japan.

This surpassed the previous day's 25,156 cases, breaking the record.

Among the 47 prefectures nationwide, Tokyo, where the infection situation is the most severe, confirmed 5,405 new cases, maintaining over 5,000 cases for three consecutive days.

As of this day, Japan's cumulative infections reached 1,258,327, and deaths increased by 34 to a total of 15,591.

The Japanese government expanded the state of emergency declared in six areas including Tokyo to seven other metropolitan areas such as Shizuoka Prefecture, increasing the number of areas subject to "priority measures to prevent spread" equivalent to a state of emergency to 16.

However, with the spread of the India-origin Delta variant, new infections are rapidly increasing mainly among the highly active younger generation.

The National Governors' Association, composed of governors from all 47 prefectures, held an online meeting on this day and urged the central government to consider introducing strong measures such as city lockdowns.

They stated that it has become clear that the state of emergency is ineffective due to the spread of the Delta variant, and argued that temporary measures such as city lockdowns are necessary to suppress crowds on the streets.

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