Coronavirus: Tokyo hits record daily high; South Australia imposes lockdown

The Japanese capital reported 493 new Covid-19 cases, as it plans to raise its alert to its highest level

Elsewhere, South Australia announced a six-day ‘circuit breaker’ lockdown, while South Korea reported the highest increase in Covid-19 cases since August

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Office workers wearing face masks are seen at Shinagawa station in Tokyo, as the Japanese capital battles an outbreak in Covid-19 cases. Photo: Reuters

Published: 10:09am, 18 Nov 2020Updated: 5:36pm, 18 Nov 2020

Daily coronavirus cases in Tokyo hit a record 493 on Wednesday, local media reported, topping a previous record of 472 set on August 1.

This came as Tokyo prepares to raise its coronavirus alert level to the highest of four levels as the number of positive cases in the Japanese capital creeps up, the Nikkei business daily reported on Wednesday.

As part of the move, the metropolitan government is considering asking some businesses to shorten their hours again, the paper said, citing multiple unnamed sources. The announcement will be made on Thursday. Tokyo authorities did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tokyo had lowered the alert level to the second-highest rank on September 10 after the daily number of infections had come down from a summer peak of 400-plus cases. Since the beginning of this month, however, daily infections have trended upwards, reaching a three-month high of 393 cases last week.

The highest alert level indicates that “infections are spreading”, versus the less serious “infections appear to be spreading”.

Still, Japan is far from the critical number of infections and deaths seen in many Western countries, with about 121,000 positive cases and 1,920 deaths reported so far.