Japan sees record number of COVID-19 cases for 4th consecutive day

ISTANBUL

Japan’s daily COVID-19 tally topped 49,000 on Friday to set a new record for the fourth consecutive day.

The country is battling a “sixth wave” of infections driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.

The capital Tokyo also saw a new peak of 9,699 daily coronavirus cases, smashing the previous record of 8,638 registered on Thursday, Kyodo News reported.

To rein in spiraling infections, the government expanded its quasi-state of emergency across 13 provinces, including Tokyo, from Friday.

Three other regions were already put under restrictions earlier this month.

Japan’s overall case tally has now climbed over 2 million, including 18,469 deaths.