Photo/Illutration Lanterns filled with helium gas are released at an event in Towada, Aomori Prefecture, on Aug. 28, including blue ones meant to express gratitude to health care workers responding to new coronavirus patients. (Ayaka Kibi)

Six new COVID-19 patients who became infected through a wake or funeral were confirmed in Chiba Prefecture on Aug. 29, bringing the total who have contracted the novel coronavirus through such services there to 17.

The six are relatives in their 50s through 70s who reside in Sosa and Asahi cities in the prefecture. They caught the infection while attending a dinner, a wake or a funeral earlier this month.

The new patients were among 30 people who are believed to have been in close contact with others who had tested positive.

Chiba Prefecture reported 27 other new COVID-19 cases on that day.

The same day, the total of new infections across Japan stood at 845, including the Chiba cases.

Tokyo registered 247 new cases, marking the fourth straight day of topping 200.

The count includes six cases at Tokyo Takanawa Hospital in Minato Ward, where a health care worker in her 30s and five patients in their 80s and 90s were found to be positive.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, 106 new infections were confirmed on Aug. 29, the first time in a week the number of patients has hit the 100 mark.

Osaka Prefecture reported 91 new patients, while 76 people were confirmed with COVID-19 in Fukuoka Prefecture.

In Okinawa Prefecture, new cases numbered 31 on Aug. 29. That made the prefecture with the highest incidence of coronavirus cases in Japan over the week, with 15.1 patients per 100,000 people, the 29th consecutive day leading the nation. 

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