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Tokyo, Jan 23 (IANS) Japan confirmed 54,576 daily Covid-19 cases, setting a new record for the fifth day in a row, according to a tally based on data collected from local governments.
Tokyo reported 11,227 new cases on Saturday, eclipsing the previous record of 9,699 logged on Friday, while Osaka Prefecture in western Japan confirmed a fresh high of 7,375 cases.
The nationwide tally surpassed the previous record high of 49,854 reported on Friday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike urged the public to be mindful of the transmissibility of the virus and pledged to make all efforts to curb its further spread.
Since the first case of the Omicron variant was confirmed in the country on November 30, the number of infections increased 100 times in three weeks.
Amid surging cases across the country and concerns over the strain on the medical system, the Japanese government has already placed the first batch of 16 prefectures under a quasi-state of emergency, and then added Tokyo and 12 other prefectures to the measure on Friday.
The quasi-state of emergency allows governors to ask restaurants and bars to end operation early and stop or limit the serving of alcohol.
As Japan's cumulative total of Covid-19 cases recently exceeded 2 million, many parts of the country have been struggling with what was considered as the "sixth wave" of infections, and several more prefectures have officially sought or are preparing to make quasi-state of emergency requests to the central government.
--IANS
int/khz/
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