Japan's total COVID cases top 10 mil. as cases surge

TOKYO, July 14 Kyodo - Japan's cumulative COVID-19 infections topped 10 million cases Thursday, with the country logging over 90,000 new cases for the second straight day, but the government has indicated there are no plans to impose restrictions at this point. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, at a press conference, stressed the need for "maximum caution" while keeping the economy going at the same time, adding that the government will "use our strengthened (COVID-19) response capability" to stem the seventh wave of coronavirus infections. In Tokyo, where 16,662 new cases were confirmed, the metropolitan government raised the capital's COVID-19 alert to the highest of four levels. Amid the rebound driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant, a total of 97,788 new COVID-19 cases were reported across the country, approaching the peak of some 104,000 daily cases that the country saw in February. "Coronavirus infections are spreading nationwide, and the number is increasing in all age brackets, especially among young people," Kishida said. It has taken only four months for the cumulative nationwide total to double, according to a Kyodo News tally, highlighting the accelerating pace of infections. After the first COVID-19 case was confirmed in Japan in January 2020, it took around 19 months to hit 1 million and another six months to reach 5 million. Only around a dozen countries now have cumulative COVID-19 cases higher than Japan, with the United States and India topping the list at around 89 million and 43.7 million, respectively, according to the University of Oxford's Our World in Data project. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said the occupancy rate of hospital beds has been rising but remains low on the whole, as are the numbers of deaths and people with severe symptoms. The government also announced the postponement of the start of a domestic travel subsidy program, originally planned for the first half of July, in a blow to an industry that has been battered by a lack of travel due to the virus's spread. To curb the spread of the virus through travel and socializing during the upcoming summer vacation period, the government is planning to request the country's 47 prefectures set up free COVID-19 testing sites at major stations and airports between Aug. 5 and 18 so people who have not undergone a third vaccination, among others, can check their infection status. The government also plans to accelerate the third round of vaccinations targeting those in their 20s and 30s while pushing forward with fourth shots to elderly people at care facilities. About 8 million health care and nursing care workers are targeted for fourth shots. The government is also considering a program to promote awareness of the need to ventilate indoor areas as people are driven into air-conditioned spaces by the hot summer weather, a factor believed to contribute to the spread of infections. On Monday, Shigeru Omi, the head of a government COVID-19 panel of experts, said Japan "has no doubt entered" its seventh wave of coronavirus infections but said there is no need to restrict activities at this stage. ==Kyodo