Cumulative Coronavirus Cases Top 1,000 in Tokyo

Tokyo, April 5 (Jiji Press)--The cumulative number of confirmed novel coronavirus cases in Tokyo rose to 1,033 on Sunday, while that of deaths due to the virus causing COVID-19 disease topped 100 across Japan including cases on a cruise ship quarantined in the country. On the day, 143 people were newly found infected with the virus in the Japanese capital, the Tokyo metropolitan government said. The daily number of confirmed cases in Tokyo thus hit the highest level, eclipsing 117 found on Saturday. The daily total surpassed 100 for the second consecutive day. Seven more people, including four inpatients at Eiju General Hospital in Taito Ward, where in-hospital infections are suspected to have occurred, were confirmed to have died in Tokyo, bringing the number of coronavirus deaths in the capital to 30. According to the metropolitan government, infection routes are unknown for 92 of the 143 newly confirmed coronavirus carriers. Of them, 37 are in their 20s, 33 in their 30s and 20 in their 40s. With those in their 20s and 30s accounting for more than half of the 143 people, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike told reporters that infections among many young people are behind the rising number of coronavirus cases in Tokyo. Tokyo had seen less than 20 confirmed cases a day until around mid-March. But the daily number spiked to 41 on March 25 and later stood at several dozens, and topped 100 for the first time on Saturday. Koike brushed aside concerns over a shortage of beds for COVID-19 patients. "We have secured enough," she said, noting that the metropolitan government has prepared 1,000 beds. Koike added that the metropolitan government will transfer from Tuesday currently hospitalized people with minor or no coronavirus symptoms to a hotel it is leasing. A team in charge of coordinating work for the transport mission will be set up, she also said. Also on Sunday, Koike explained the current coronavirus situation in Tokyo in a video message released on the internet. Meanwhile, the metropolitan government corrected the daily number of confirmed COVID-19 cases for Saturday in Tokyo to 117 from 118, citing a calculation error. Elsewhere in the country on Sunday, 20 or more infection cases were newly confirmed in each of the prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa, all of which border Tokyo, and the western prefecture of Osaka. The number of newly confirmed COVID-19 cases across the country on the day came to about 360. Besides the seven COVID-19 deaths in Tokyo, a woman in her 80s infected with the novel coronavirus in the central Japan city of Fukui and an infected man in Nagoya, the capital of Aichi Prefecture, also central Japan, were confirmed to have died on Sunday. As a result, the total death toll related to the virus in Japan rose to 104, including people who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, quarantined in Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa, over the virus earlier this year. END