Coronavirus: Tokyo facing third wave of ‘unprecedented magnitude’, warns city’s governor
- With the latest figures, the capital has seen 58,840 confirmed cases in total
- Since December 17, Tokyo’s alert has been raised to the highest of four levels, the first time since the outbreak
The Tokyo metropolitan government reported 944 cases of the novel coronavirus on Wednesday, marking the second-highest daily tally on record and prompting Governor Yuriko Koike to warn that the capital is facing “a third wave” of infections of an “unprecedented magnitude”.
Tokyo had just logged a record 949 infections on December 26, and saw the seven-day rolling average of new cases top 800 for the first time at 815.7.
“We are in a very severe and crucial phase,” Koike said at a news conference. “It is no surprise that an explosion of infections could occur at any time.”
With the latest figure, the capital has seen 58,840 confirmed cases in total.
Koike said that if the situation continues to worsen, the metropolitan government “may have no choice but to request” that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga declares a state of emergency over the pandemic.
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Across Japan, virus cases have been increasing in December, and a total of 3,852 new cases were reported on Wednesday, the second-highest level on record.