Photo/Illutration Crowds of people view cherry blossoms in Tokyo’s Meguro Ward on March 30. (Taku Hosokawa)

Tokyo confirmed 8,226 fresh cases of COVID-19 on March 31, down 649 from the previous Thursday, marking the first time in five days the daily tally went below the figure of a week ago.

The daily average of new cases over the week through March 31 in the capital came to 7,529.9, or 118.5 percent of the average for the preceding week.

Tokyo metropolitan government officials also reported 12 deaths of COVID-19 patients who were between the ages of 30 to 89.

Of the 8,226 new cases, 78 were diagnosed as being infected with the novel coronavirus without being tested.

People in their 20s formed the largest age group of new patients at 1,756, followed by 1,395 patients in their 30s, 1,376 in their 40s, 1,330 aged 9 or younger and 1,164 between the ages of 10 and 19.

Additionally, 403 people aged 65 or older tested positive.

The occupancy rate of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Tokyo was 24.3 percent, while 11.7 percent of hospital beds for severely ill patients were filled, officials said.

The metropolitan government said it would consider asking the central government to issue another state of emergency for Tokyo if the occupancy rate of beds for seriously ill patients hits between 30 and 40 percent.

The Tokyo metropolitan government defines seriously ill patients as those requiring ventilators or ECMO heart-lung bypass machines.

Their number remained at 32, the same as the previous day.

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