Tokyo: 950 new cases of coronavirus have been reported in Japan’s capital Tokyo, which is the highest daily number of cases in two months. The infection continues to spread in the city, with less than two weeks left for the Summer Olympics to be held. The number of cases on Saturday is higher than the 822 confirmed cases on Friday.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declared a state of emergency in Tokyo on Thursday, effective Monday, to prevent an uncontrolled spread of infections during the Olympics, starting July 23. The government had previously planned to take less strict measures but was ordered to impose a state of emergency due to the spread of the more contagious delta form of the virus in the Tokyo area.
Experts have warned that daily cases of infection could reach thousands within a few weeks as people travel across the country for the summer holidays and foreign and domestic visitors to the Olympics will arrive in Tokyo.
Olympic officials have decided not to allow spectators at Olympic venues in the Tokyo area while allowing limited spectators attendance in other parts of Japan.
However, Hokkaido and Fukushima announced that spectators would not be allowed at Olympic venues in their regions. Despite the recent boom in Japan’s vaccination program, only 16.8 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. So far, there have been about 8,12,000 cases of Covid-19 in Japan and about 15,000 deaths.
