Photo/Illutration Pedestrians cross an intersection in the posh Ginza district of Tokyo on Aug. 17. (Nobuo Fujiwara)

Tokyo recorded its second highest number of COVID-19 cases on Aug. 18 as daily tally records were set across the nation and for other prefectures around Japan.

The total national daily record was broken as more than 23,000 cases were reported as of 6 p.m., topping the previous record of 20,362 on Aug. 13. 

There were also 1,716 COVID-19 patients with serious symptoms across the nation as of Aug. 17, the sixth consecutive day the record has been rewritten. 

In Tokyo, metropolitan government officials said there were 5,386 fresh cases on Aug. 18, while Osaka prefectural government officials reported a record 2,296 cases, exceeding 2,000 for the first time.

Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost in Japan, had a record 761 new cases. Meanwhile, the number of cases per 100,000 over the last week for Okinawa came to 310.32, the highest in the nation and well above the 226.83 of second-place Tokyo.

Hyogo Prefecture next to Osaka also set a record on Aug. 18 with 1,088 new cases and Aichi Prefecture had a record 1,227 cases, while daily records were also broken in Fukuoka, Okayama and Yamaguchi prefectures.

In Osaka, officials reported a sharp increase in the number of those 9 and younger infected with COVID-19. While there were only 74 in the two-week period between July 5 and 18, there were 355 in the next two-week period and 1,139 between Aug. 2 and 15. 

The total in Tokyo was second only to the 5,773 marked on Aug. 13. For the week ending Aug. 18, the daily average of cases in the capital was 4,696.6, a 17.9-percent increase over the previous week.

Six fatalities from COVID-19 were reported in Tokyo, while there were 275 patients with symptoms serious enough to require a ventilator or other equipment to breathe. The figure was a decrease of one from the previous day.

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