New Covid Cases On The Rise Across Japan

For the week through October 13, the seven-day average of new cases across Japan was down 15 percent from the week before. This marked a decline for a seventh consecutive week.

But since then, the figures have steadily climbed. The seven-day average for the week through October 20 rose 22 percent. The averages for the subsequent weeks were up 6 percent and 38 percent respectively.

The national tally of new daily cases for the week through Thursday stood at about 50,000 on average. That is up more than 13,000 from the previous week.

Average daily tallies rose in all 47 prefectures, with Hokkaido posting the highest number of new cases per capita. It recorded about 5,490 per day.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government had reported declines in weekly averages for 10 consecutive weeks in mid-October. This has since been followed by three consecutive weeks of growth.

For the week through Thursday, the seven-day average for the capital was up 39 percent and about 4,700 new cases were reported each day.

Professor Tateda Kazuhiro of Toho University, a member of the central government's coronavirus advisory team, says new cases have been slowly increasing across the country, with eastern prefectures in particular seeing larger gains. He says this shows Japan is now entering an eighth wave of infection.

Tateda adds that if an area's seven-day average more than doubles from the previous week, residents should brace themselves for a surge in infections.