According to the updated data, the number of new cases across Japan yesterday (November 11) reached 1,547 cases, close to the record of 1,596 cases on August 7th. New infections have increased dramatically. In particular, the prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo, and Saitama reported record increases in one day since the outbreak.
Tokyo confirmed 317 new cases, exceeding the 300 mark for the first time since August 20. Since the beginning of November, the number of new cases in Tokyo has begun to increase sharply, the average number of new cases in the last 7 days has exceeded 250 cases, equivalent to the figures at the end of August, when the epidemic peaked at Japan. Currently the capital of Japan is the largest epidemic center with the cumulative number of cases up to 33,377 cases, the highest among 47 prefectures.
Meanwhile, the epidemic clusters in the northernmost province of Hokkaido continued to spread strongly, the whole province had 197 new cases and it was the 7th day that over 100 new cases were recorded continuously. On Monday, the locality reported a record increase of 200 new cases.
Mr. Toshio Nakagawa, President of Japan Medical Association, said “This can be considered as the third wave of infection (in Japan)”.
By the end of yesterday, Japan had a total of 112,767 cases of SARS-CoV-2, of which 1,876 were fatal.
Mr. Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister in charge of coping with Covid 19, said: “At this stage, Japan is not in a state of emergency declaration”. However, Mr. Nishimura said “the rising trend is becoming visible” and the Japanese government will step up measures to prevent the epidemic from spreading strongly.
The nationwide high number of infections comes as Japan is shifting to loosen restrictions as part of an effort to revive an economy devastated by the pandemic. Since July, the government of this country has implemented a domestic tourism stimulus program, offering discounts on bills for people while traveling within Japan.
Japan has also lifted its immigration ban on citizens from countries such as Australia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, New Zealand and Vietnam.