Photo/Illutration Takaji Wakita, right, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), speaks about a rebound in infections at a news conference in Tokyo on April 6. (Kai Ichino)

Novel coronavirus infections are surging again in 34 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, while the nationwide tally of new COVID-19 cases rose for the second straight week, an expert panel said April 6.

Data released by the panel, which is advising the health ministry during the pandemic, showed that the daily average number of new infections across Japan over the week until April 5 was 1.08 times the figure for the preceding week.

“It is concerning that the virus is spreading again,” Takaji Wakita, the panel chair who also serves as head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), said at a news conference in Tokyo. “We will closely monitor what unfolds.”

The sixth wave of infections gained steam in early January, but the upward infection trajectory leveled off at the start of February.

The decline bottomed out in late March, and now new cases are rising again, according to the experts.

The Kyushu region has seen a particularly sharp spike in infections. New COVID-19 cases for the week to April 5 were up 1.68 times from the previous week in Miyazaki Prefecture, while the figure was up 1.39 times in Oita Prefecture and 1.32 times in Kumamoto Prefecture.

The infection situation in urban centers has more or less stabilized.

The number of daily new cases in Tokyo was 1.04 times the average for the preceding week, while the levels were 0.97 times the previous averages in both Osaka Prefecture and Aichi Prefecture.

The health experts said one disturbing trend in recent weeks is that more people in their 20s are becoming infected.

In past infection waves, the virus first spread among people in their 20s and then to other age groups.

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The Asahi Shimbun

People in their 20s accounted for 18 percent of all new COVID-19 patients in April, up from 14 percent in March. Patients aged 9 and younger made up 33 percent of the new cases.

The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients and those recuperating at home has also started to rise.

But the number of patients in critical condition and COVID-19-related deaths have been declining.

As of April 5, no prefecture had a hospital bed occupancy rate above 40 percent, according to the Cabinet Secretariat. The rates were 25 percent in Tokyo and 26 percent in Osaka Prefecture.

The health experts said the latest spread of the virus reflects the increase in outdoor activity and public gatherings after the COVID-19 pre-emergency measures were lifted around Japan last month. Spring break trips, company and school ceremonies and cherry blossom viewing parties have contributed to the rebound, they said.

BA.2, a subvariant of the Omicron variant, is another contributing factor. It is believed to be 20 to 40 percent more contagious than the initial Omicron strain.

The subvariant was responsible for 60 percent of Japan’s overall cases in the first week of April, according to the NIID.

The NIID predicted the ratio will reach 90 percent in the first week of May.

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