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Tokyo recorded the highest number of new coronavirus infections on Tuesday, days after the Olympics began. The Japanese capital reported 2,848 new cases of COVID-19, surpassing the previous record of 2,520 cases set on January 7.
This brings the total population of Tokyo to more than 200,000 since the epidemic began last year.
Tokyo is under a fourth state of emergency, which will run through the Olympics even before the Paralympic Games start in late August.
Experts noted that cases among unvaccinated young people are rising sharply as Japan’s vaccination campaign loses momentum due to uncertainty over supplies. Many of the serious cases involve people in their fifties. They are now controlling nearly 3,000 hospital patients in Tokyo and are gradually working to fill the available beds.
A COVID-19 website operated by the Tokyo metropolitan government said there was a “high risk of a resurgence of the virus” and noted that the provision of non-COVID-19 healthcare was “under pressure”.
“It’s a delta formula,” said Kenji Shibuya, former director of the Institute of Population Health at King’s College London, explaining the recent rapid increase in rise. Shibuya added that it was impossible to say how much the Olympics contributed to the increase, but he blamed the global sporting event as “one of the main driving forces”.
“The government has sent signals that people are supposed to stay home while they celebrate the games. It’s a completely inconsistent message,” said Shibuya, who is now managing a vaccine launch in a town in northern Japan.
Japan’s vaccination campaign started late and slowly, but rebounded dramatically in May for several weeks as imported vaccine supplies stabilized and Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government pushed to vaccinate more people ahead of the Olympics.
The government says 25.5 percent of Japanese have been fully vaccinated, still well below the level thought to have any meaningful effect in reducing risk to the general population.
However, Japan has kept its cases and deaths significantly lower than many other countries. Nationwide, there were 870,445 cases of infection and 15,129 deaths reported as of Monday.
— From the Associated Press and Reuters, last updated at 6:45 a.m. ET
What is happening around the world
As of early Tuesday morning, more than 194.7 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported worldwide, according to the online coronavirus tracker from Johns Hopkins University. The reported global death toll has reached more than 4.1 million.
In the Asia Pacific Region, Fiji’s leader urges people to get vaccinated as the island nation grapples with a devastating outbreak of the delta variant of the coronavirus.
For its population – less than a million people – Fiji’s outbreak is currently among the worst in the world.
Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said the nation’s task is to vaccinate 80 percent of adults by the end of October. About 47 percent of the population of Fiji has received at least one dose of vaccination.
He said the “lies, misinformation and unholy madness” about the vaccine put people at risk. Fiji reported 1,285 new cases in its latest daily update. It has reported 193 deaths since the outbreak began in April.
Fiji also reported another 101 deaths of patients with COVID-19 that it did not classify as coronavirus deaths because the patients had underlying conditions. Before the outbreak in April, Fiji had recorded only two deaths from the coronavirus.
The main eastern Chinese city of Nanjing recorded another 31 cases of locally transmitted COVID-19 on Tuesday, as authorities announced that more than 1.5 billion doses of the vaccine had been delivered across the country.
This brings the total number of new cases in Nanjing to more than 106 in recent days. The virus circulating in the city has been identified as a delta type, according to local officials. The city has been conducting mass testing and putting tens of thousands of people under lockdown.
in a Africa, The Libyan government has imposed a two-week curfew in some local councils amid an increase in COVID-19 cases.
In the Middle east, Israel is considering giving a third dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to its elderly population even before U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval to help stave off delta variant.
Iran recorded more than 34,900 new infections with the Corona virus, setting the record for one day of cases in the country. This comes as vaccinations are delayed, public satisfaction deepens, and the country is grappling with an outbreak. The previous record of 31,814 infections was set on Monday, providing a sense of how quickly the latest surge is escalating in Iran, which is fueled by the contagious delta variant.
The alarming spread of the variant led to new antivirus restrictions being imposed last week. The government has ordered the closure of state offices, public places and non-essential businesses in the capital, Tehran. But as with previous government measures, the lockdown looked very little like a lockdown at all. Malls and markets in Tehran were crowded as usual, and workers crowded offices and metro stations.
Iranian health authorities recorded 357 deaths from COVID-19 on Tuesday, bringing the total number of confirmed deaths to 89,479 – the highest in the Middle East.
In the the Americas, Political leaders in California and New York have ordered government employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or face regular testing, while President Joe Biden has urged people with long-term symptoms to protect against discrimination.
Mexico’s Health Ministry on Monday recorded 5,920 new confirmed cases of coronavirus and 171 deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 2,754,438 and reported deaths to 238,595.
Canada’s largest airport no longer divides incoming international passengers into different customs lines based on their vaccination status. Toronto Pearson International Airport announced last week that it may screen travelers from the United States or other international locations into vaccinated, partially or unvaccinated lines.
in a EuropeBritain is relaxing coronavirus-related quarantine rules for essential workers, including prison guards, vets and garbage collectors in a bid to end staff shortages crippling parts of the economy.
About 26 million Britons have downloaded a phone app that tells them to self-isolate for 10 days if they come into contact with someone who has tested positive for COVID-19.
The system caused employee absenteeism and led to holes in supermarket shelves. The United Kingdom recently recorded tens of thousands of new virus cases every day. The government says many key workers can now be tested daily rather than isolate themselves.
Cases have fallen for six consecutive days, with Monday’s figure of 24,950 confirmed infections down more than a third from the previous week. Britain has given 70 per cent of adults two doses of the coronavirus vaccine.
Watch | People should remain very careful about COVID-19: British Prime Minister:
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned against drawing “premature conclusions” about the decline in Covid-19 cases in the UK and said it “remains a very serious disease”. 0:50
Meanwhile, the European Union chief executive says the 27-nation bloc has achieved its goal of providing at least one coronavirus vaccine to 70 percent of all adults, but is urging people to protect themselves from the rapidly spreading delta variant.
The European Union, home to about 450 million people, was widely criticized for the slow pace of vaccine rollout earlier this year. But the executive branch, the European Commission, says 57 percent of adults are now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
“These numbers place Europe among the world’s leaders” when it comes to vaccination rates, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Tuesday. “The catch-up process was very successful,” von der Leyen said, but cautioned against complacency given the well-established presence in Europe of the delta type.
“The delta type is very dangerous,” she said. “So I appeal to everyone – who has the opportunity – to be vaccinated. For their own health and the protection of others.”
— From the Associated Press, Reuters and The Canadian Press, last updated at 11:30 a.m. ET
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