Tokyo coronavirus cases could top 280 on Thursday: Governor
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Pedestrians wait at a crossing in the Ikebukuro district of Tokyo on July 9, 2020.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
TOKYO (REUTERS) - Tokyo is likely to see coronavirus cases top 280 on Thursday (July 16), Governor Yuriko Koike said, in what would mark a record daily high for the Japanese capital.
"It's still incomplete, but I'm hearing that the number will be above 280," Ms Koike told reporters, noting that the metropolis was conducting more than 4,000 tests on Thursday.
The jump in cases comes as a Japanese government campaign to kickstart domestic tourism has come under fire with officials in Tokyo and the countryside saying it's too soon to boost travel from the capital.
A panel of experts was set to meet Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura to discuss the multi-billion-dollar "Go To" promotion on Thursday, a day after Ms Koike publicly queried the campaign's timing and methods.
Scheduled to kick off next Wednesday, the campaign will see travellers receive subsidies of as much as 50 per cent in an effort to boost tourism-reliant economies outside of Japan's major population areas.
Mr Nishimura said he wanted to hear the panel's opinions on containment measures, such as preventing large gatherings and ensuring ventilation in means of transport.
But opposition lawmakers and others have raised concerns that with infections in the capital Tokyo running at their highest level since the outbreak began - currently around 100-200 daily - city dwellers could spread the virus through regions that have been relatively lightly hit by Covid-19.
