Photo/Illutration Employees clap their hands to convey their gratitude to medical personnel treating patients with the new coronavirus at the Fukuoka municipal government building in Fukuoka on April 10. (Amane Shimazaki)

The overall death toll in Japan from the new coronavirus pandemic reached 133 on April 10 with 14 fatalities reported that day, health authorities said.

As of 11 p.m. the same day, 635 new cases of infection were confirmed across the country,  topping 600 for the first time in a single day. 

Tottori Prefecture reported its first confirmed case, making Iwate Prefecture in northeast Japan the only prefecture of the 47 that is free of infections. The patient is a man in his 60s who lives in Tottori.

In Tokyo, a new daily high of 189 cases was recorded on April 10, for the third day in a row, according to the metropolitan government.

Four patients died from COVID-19, the pneumonia-like disease caused by the coronavirus, the same day, bringing the overall death toll in Tokyo to 40.

Of the four dead, three were men in their 80s and 90s.

The metropolitan government also revised the number of new cases for April 9 to 178 from 181.

Kanagawa Prefecture, just south of Tokyo, said 57 patients’ infections were confirmed on April 10, including an employee in her 30s who is a member of the Kanagawa prefecture’s task force to deal with the virus.

The prefectural government ordered 18 employees, including those of the task force, to self-isolate at home as a precaution against infecting others.

That same day, three patients with the coronavirus died in the prefecture, all in the port city of Yokohama.

In Saitama Prefecture, 53 new cases were detected on April 10, including 12 patients at Tokorozawa Meisei Hospital and Tokorozawa Loyal Hospital.

The number of infections confirmed that day was 80 in Osaka Prefecture, 39 in Fukuoka Prefecture, 29 in Hyogo Prefecture and 20 in Ishikawa Prefecture.

Fukuoka Prefecture’s new cases, which marked its highest for a 24-hour period, include eight staff workers and patients at Fukuoka Kinen Hospital, where 16 people had already tested positive for the virus.

Fukuoka prefectural officials said they had confirmed four cases at a hair salon in Buzen, a city in the prefecture, by April 9.

The owner of the salon, a woman in her 40s, along with a client, also in her 40s, and her toddler son tested positive. Officials plan to ensure that others who went to the store undergo diagnostic testing.

Officials cautioned that the discovery does not mean that hair salons are generally at risk.

“It is possible that this particular salon’s air ventilation system was poor,” one official said.

Japan’s total tally of confirmed infections now stands at 6,899, including cases from the cruise ship Diamond Princess that was quarantined at Yokohama Port for two weeks.

Related News