Photo/Illutration Visitors wearing protective face masks wait to offer prayers on the first business day of the New Year at the Kanda Myojin shrine in Tokyo on Jan. 4. (Reuters)

Total deaths from COVID-19 in Japan passed a grim milestone, 60,000, on Jan. 8, data from health authorities showed.

The majority of fatalities involved senior citizens, mostly those in their 80s.

Japan’s first death from COVID-19 was reported on Feb. 13, 2020.

It then took about 14 months for the death toll nationwide to reach 10,000. After that, it took 10 months for the figure to hit 20,000, three months to top 30,000, four months to climb to 40,000 and another four months to top 50,000. That last milestone was reached on Dec. 1 of last year.

This time, however, it took just five weeks for the figure to climb by 10,000 to exceed 60,000.

Tokyo on Jan. 8 confirmed 15,124 new cases of COVID-19, or 5,938 more than the previous Sunday, and 28 related deaths.

Health officials with the metropolitan government said the daily average of new cases over the week through Jan. 8 stood at 14,846.9, representing 99.9 percent of the number for the preceding week.

Of the latest daily tally, patients in their 20s formed the largest group, at 3,100, followed by 2,595 in their 30s and 2,335 in their 40s.

Patients aged 65 or older totaled 1,862.

The 28 fatalities involved patients in their 60s to 90s.

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