Covid-19 cases keep rising in the Japanese capital. Last Tuesday, the Tokyo metropolitan government reported 309 new cases and announced that the national tally exceeded again 1,000 infections.
According to local officials, now the virus affects also younger people. Only in the capital, 62% of the infected people are between 20 and 30 years old.
Saturday marked a record day for the Japanese capital. That day, local authorities reported an increase of 472 cases. The following day, Tokyo authorities registered 292 more infections.
At national level, Japan has counted more than 1,000 cases for five consecutive days through Sunday.
In Japan the number of infections has started to rise again since the end of July. Tokyo is the city facing the most cases, whit a cumulative total now higher than 14,000. Last week, the capital registered an average number of daily infections of 344.4. Of these, 193 (62%) are young individuals in their 20s and 30s. However, the virus is slowly spreading to the elderly again; indeed, 23 infections have also been registered in people between 70 and 90 years old.
As infections show no sign of slowing down in Tokyo, the metropolitan government has raised the pandemic alert to level four (the highest level).
Yuriko Koike, current governor of Tokyo, warns that the city authorities might soon declare an emergency.
Starting from last Monday, karaoke venues and establishments serving alcohol have to shut down by 10 p.m. This new regulation will continue until the end of August and will hopefully help to mitigate the spread of the virus.
Furthermore, the metropolitan government is planning to refund with 200,000 yen all small businesses observing the new prevention guidelines.
Starting from last Saturday, stores and businesses that have been carrying out relevant measures against the virus will have to display stickers certifying their efforts. Koike also asks stores and business operators to increase their cooperation. “The stickers have the effect of increasing awareness of virus prevention among businesses and customers,” she said.
Not only Tokyo is experiencing a virus resurgence. Even other Japanese territories – mainly the prefectures of Kanagawa and Okinawa – reported a record in daily infections. The daily figures announced by Japanese local governments are in line with the most recent totals reported by medical institutions and health authorities.
