Photo/Illutration A worker, left, instructs others where to wipe while cleaning an arena before the ISU World Team Trophy figure skating competition in Osaka on April 15. (AP Photo)

OSAKA--Osaka Prefecture logged a record-breaking 1,209 new COVID-19 cases on April 16, one more than the daily record set the day before, the prefectural government announced.

New daily cases exceeded 1,000 for the fourth day in a row, topping the previous record of 1,208 on April 15.

The prefectural government also announced that 16 COVID-19 patients had died, marking the first time the daily death toll exceeded 10 since Feb. 17.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in the prefecture stood at 65,657 with total deaths at 1,254.

Among patients confirmed with infections in the prefecture so far, it was found that 313 cases were newly suspected of being infected with variant strains.

In the prefecture, a total of 2,849 patients were suspected of being infected with variant strains while among these 391 cases were confirmed.

Hyogo Prefecture also reported its highest daily count of 510 new cases on April 16, topping the 507 cases logged on April 14.

Related News