THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 5, 2021 at 19:28 JST
Many people wait in line to take a photo with the Olympic logo near the National Stadium in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on Aug. 5. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)
Tokyo confirmed a record 5,042 new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 5, while the figure for all of Japan hit 14,968 as of 6 p.m., marking a single-day high for the second consecutive day.
Kanagawa, Saitama and Okinawa prefectures also each logged the highest number of new infections at 1,846, 1,235 and 648, respectively.
It was the first time the capital’s daily count has topped 5,000, and the tally also broke the previous record for the second straight day.
It also marked the 12th consecutive day for the daily number of new infections in Tokyo to set a new record for each day of the week.
The latest figure brought the daily average of new COVID-19 cases in the capital for the week through Aug. 5 to 3,646.9, or 164 percent of the figure for the preceding week.
The average number of diagnostic tests conducted in Tokyo over the three days through Aug. 4 stood at 15,854.
Officials also confirmed one man in his 60s died from the novel coronavirus in the capital on Aug. 5.
Of the 5,042 cases, 1,600 patients were in their 20s, followed by 1,120 in their 30s, 811 in their 40s and 552 in their 50s. Patients aged between 10 to 19 accounted for 441 cases and 180 people were aged 65 or older.
The number of serious cases in Tokyo requiring ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as an ECMO lung bypass machine, rose by 20 from the previous day to 135 on Aug. 5.
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