TOKYO: Covid-19 infections continue to surge in Japan with the daily number of cases reaching a record high of 233,100 on Thursday amid the nation's seventh wave of the coronavirus driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.
It is the highest for the second consecutive day and all eyes are now on the nation's medical system as the number of available Covid-19 hospital beds continues to decline.
The World Health Organisation has also said that Japan had the world's highest number of new cases in the week with more than 969,000 infections.
According to a Kyodo News report, the capital city Tokyo reported a record 40,406 infections, surpassing 40,000 for the first time.
Tokyo's new all-time high, which exceeded its previous record of 34,995 reported last Friday, is believed to include around 5,000 to 6,000 cases that were not logged earlier due to a system error.
Most of the infections are among those in their 20s and the capital's weekly average of new cases has risen by more than 66 per cent compared to the previous week.
The government said occupancy rates for Covid-19 hospital beds stood at over 50 per cent in 19 prefectures, more than double from a week earlier.
Okinawa topped the list with a bed occupancy rate of 88 per cent, followed by Shizuoka and Kanagawa prefectures at 74 per cent.
The Saitama and Chiba prefectures that neighbours the capital, as well as Hokkaido and Aichi, were among 18 other areas also reported record number of infections on Thursday.
Health authorities said the daily death toll has exceeded 100 for the third day straight at 114 deaths. Seriously ill Covid-19 patients rose by 35 from a day earlier to 346, according to the health ministry.
Meanwhile at a National Governors' Association summer meeting on Thursday, Fukushima Gov. Masao Uchibori said it was important to stem the spread of the virus while balancing socioeconomic activities.
Nagasaki Gov. Kengo Oishi also said there was little need to curb activities such as tourism as "the risk is not significantly high."
However, the rapid spread of the virus has already begun disrupting some business activities, with a number of public transport services being canceled due to lack of available staff.
The Kyodo News report also said that Japan has secured about 12 million COVID-19 antigen self-test kits to be used for those with mild symptoms and the government wanted to ease the testing burden on clinics.
On Wednesday, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the pandemic was far from over, with over 6.6 million new cases logged globally in the week to last Sunday. This is about 300,000 more than the previous week.
After Japan, the United States had the highest number of new infections at around 860,000, while Germany registered about 570,000 cases.
The number of deaths stood at over 12,600, with the United States recording the highest number at around 2,600. This was followed by Brazil at about 1,400, while Japan confirmed 272 deaths.