Coronavirus latest: Tokyo reports record daily increase, Australian economy set back by Melbourne spike
- Japan’s campaign to kick-start domestic tourism has also come under fire with officials saying it is too soon to boost travel from the capital
- Meanwhile in the Philippines, government could reimpose tight quarantine restrictions in Manila amid a spike in coronavirus infections and deaths
Governor Yuriko Koike had earlier said the previous record of 243 cases set on July 10 would be topped after the capital increased its number of daily tests to more than 4,000, also a new high.
Tokyo has reported a total of 8,640 coronavirus infections, while around 23,700 cases have been confirmed nationally.
There have been reports of infections at nursery schools and care facilities for elderly people, indicating that the virus is spreading to other age groups. It has also been revealed that around 850 individuals had close contact with people at a theatre in Tokyo’s busy Shinjuku shopping district who tested positive for the virus.
The virus is also spreading across the country. In Osaka, the country’s second-largest economic area, officials reported 61 infections on Wednesday, the most since mid-April when the country was under a state of emergency. In the northern island of Hokkaido, a cluster was reported tied to a nightclub in Sapporo that involved more than 10 people.