Photo/Illutration Pedestrians cross an intersection in Tokyo's Shinjuku district on May 7 as a video display shows Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga explaining his decision to extend the COVID-19 state of emergency. (Naoko Kawamura)

Tokyo recorded its highest number of fresh COVID-19 cases under the current third state of emergency as metropolitan government officials confirmed 1,121 patients with the novel coronavirus on May 8.

The last time the daily COVID-19 figure exceeded 1,100 was on Jan. 22 when there were 1,184 cases.

The daily average for the week ending May 8 was 776.6, which represented 97.3 percent of the figure for the previous week.

Of the latest cases, 286 patients were in their 20s, 216 in their 30s, 187 in their 40s and 147 in their 50s. There were also 132 patients aged 65 or older.

Seventy-one patients, up by two from the previous day, displayed serious symptoms that require ventilators, or an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) device, which circulates blood through an artificial lung.