Tokyo records 5,094 new daily cases as Japan marks key festival

TOKYO • Tokyo's new daily coronavirus cases hit 5,094, a day after marking a record of 5,773 cases, the Tokyo government said.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga on Friday urged people to refrain from travelling as cases spiked to record highs in Tokyo and nationwide, heaping pressure on the healthcare system.

Thursday marked a month since an emergency was enacted in Tokyo. But the situation is nowhere close to improving. The seven-day rolling case average has soared by five times in the same period.

The crisis is mounting as Japan marks the Bon festival this weekend, one of the peak travel periods with millions criss-crossing the country to pay respects at ancestral graves, though the government has urged the public to refrain from travelling. It has also repeatedly asked the public to avoid "non-essential, non-urgent" outings.

But the plea rang hollow after International Olympic Committee chief Thomas Bach was photographed strolling down the Ginza shopping district on Monday. While the Olympic bubble held up due to its rigorous testing and ring-fencing regime, such tests are still not freely nor easily available to the public.

As at Tuesday, Japan had administered 102.9 million vaccine doses and 81.6 per cent of its residents aged 65 or older were fully vaccinated, according to the Prime Minister's office. That is higher than the 80.4 per cent of the same age group fully vaccinated in the United States, according to US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention data.

But in the US, 90.5 per cent of those aged 65 or older have received at least one dose, higher than the 87.6 per cent in Japan.

Japan also has a lower percentage of its population fully vaccinated than any other member of the Group of Seven advanced nations.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, BLOOMBERG