Japan's Daily COVID-19 New Cases Surpass 100,000 for the First Time Ever

4 Infected at the Prime Minister's Residence as Well

[Photo by Xinhua News Agency]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] Japan's daily new COVID-19 cases surpassed 100,000 for the first time in history on the 5th.

According to NHK, 100,949 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Japan by 8:30 PM that day. Over the past week until that day, Japan's COVID-19 cases increased by 620,159.

The highly contagious Omicron variant has become dominant, and with the third dose vaccination rate at only 4.8% according to the Japanese government's latest announcement, infections are spreading widely.

According to Kyodo News, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki tested positive for COVID-19 on the 28th of last month. He is a close aide who frequently meets with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The most recent occasion when Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Isozaki sat with Prime Minister Kishida was at the COVID-19 response ministerial meeting held at the Prime Minister's Office on the 24th of last month. However, authorities judged that Prime Minister Kishida was not a close contact.

Prime Minister Kishida has been carrying out his usual schedule even after Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Isozaki's positive diagnosis.

Among the Prime Minister's Office staff, four recent infections have been reported. This is the first time since April last year that there have been confirmed cases among the Prime Minister's Office staff.

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