Japan Reports 238,735 New COVID-19 Cases

Japan reported 238,735 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, posting the second-highest daily count after some 249,800 cases confirmed on Wednesday.

The daily tally of new COVID-19 deaths came to 161, while the number of severely ill patients rose by 38 from Wednesday to 516, topping 500 for the first time in about four months.

Eleven of the country’s 47 prefectures saw the daily number of new infections hit a record high. They are Hokkaido, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama, Ishikawa, Yamanashi, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kochi and Nagasaki.

In Tokyo, new cases dropped by 5,067 from a week before to 35,339, with the seven-day average climbing 4.4 pct week on week to 32,700.

The Japanese capital confirmed 15 new COVID-19 fatalities on the day, while the number of very ill patients under the metropolitan government’s criteria rose by four from the previous day to 39.