Photo/Illutration A college student receives a COVID-19 jab at a vaccination center set up at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. (Pool) 

More COVID-19 daily tally records were broken around Japan on Aug. 4 as the Tokyo Olympics were winding down toward the Closing Ceremony four days ahead.

Tokyo metropolitan government officials confirmed a record 4,166 fresh cases, while the southernmost prefecture of Okinawa had a record 602 cases. The two are among six prefectures where a state of emergency will be in place until Aug. 31.

The total figure for Japan on Aug. 4 exceeded 14,000 as of 6:20 p.m., setting a new record.

Fukuoka Prefecture on the main southern island of Kyushu reported 752 cases, another record.

Daily records were also broken on Aug. 4 in Ibaraki with 290 new cases, Shizuoka with 202, Gunma with 204, Shiga with 103, Niigata with 78, Saitama with 1,200, Chiba with 840, Kyoto with 277, Tochigi with 178 and Mie with 74.

In Tokyo, the daily average of cases for the week ending Aug. 4 was 3,478.7, which represented an increase of 78 percent over the previous week.

Once again, a large percentage of the new cases in the capital was made up of those under 40, with 1,380 patients in their 20s and 885 in their 30s. There were also 658 in their 40s, 493 in their 50s and 339 between 10 and 19. Only 131 patients were 65 or older.

One additional death from COVID-19 was reported in Tokyo, while 115 patients had symptoms serious enough to require the use of ventilators and other equipment to breathe, up three from the previous day.

According to Okinawa prefectural government officials, the number of new cases over the past week per 100,000 residents was 178.43, the highest figure in Japan. Also, 74.6 percent of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients were filled.

Osaka Prefecture had 1,224 cases, the fifth highest daily tally and the first time the figure exceeded 1,200 since May 1.

The main northern island of Hokkaido reported 366 new cases, the first time it has topped 300 since June 3.

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