Photo/Illutration Syringes for second shots of a COVID-19 vaccine to inoculate health care workers at Tokyo Medical Center in the capital’s Meguro Ward on March 11 (Pool)

Tokyo metropolitan government officials confirmed 300 new COVID-19 cases on March 16, up 10 from the 290 cases reported in the daily count a week ago.

The latest tally brought the daily average in the capital for the week through March 16 to 289 cases, or 110.4 percent of the preceding week.

The metropolitan government has set a weekly goal of reducing the average to 70 percent of the previous week.

The number of serious cases in Tokyo requiring ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as an ECMO lung bypass machine, remained unchanged from the previous day at 42 on March 16, the officials said.

Of the 300 cases, 67 patients were in their 30s, followed by 55 in their 20s and 45 in their 50s. There were 52 patients aged 65 or older.

The metropolitan government is aiming to ease the strain on the capital’s health care system by lowering the number of cases to the stage 2 level by March 21, when the current state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures is due to be lifted.

Under the four-stage classification set by the central government’s expert panel on the COVID-19 pandemic, areas are considered to be at stage 2 when they are experiencing a gradual increase in new cases.

As of March 15, Tokyo has 2,628 COVID-19 patients, including those recuperating at home and at other accommodation facilities, 1,270 patients hospitalized with the disease, and 251 patients in serious condition based on the central government’s definition.

To achieve its stage 2 target, the capital needs to reduce the number of COVID-19 patients to 2,088 and bring the number of hospitalized patients down to 1,261, according to the metropolitan government.

The number of patients in serious condition has already fallen below the target of 255.

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