A surge of cases that worries, three days before the end of the Olympic Games.
Tokyo on Thursday set a new record for Covid-19 cases, which rose for the first time above 5,000 new infections a day, as the government must extend restrictions to eight additional Japanese departments.
The country's capital on Thursday recorded 5,042 new cases of Covid-19, less than a week after having crossed for the first time the mark of 4,000 new daily cases.
Driven by the spread of the more contagious Delta variant, the number of new infections also hit national records, surpassing 14,000 for the first time on Wednesday.
"The infections are spreading at a rate that we have never known before," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Thursday during a meeting of his government on the health crisis.
"With the rapid increase in cases, the number of patients in severe conditions, which had been contained (so far, Editor's note), is increasing," warned Yoshihide Suga.
A country previously spared
Japan had been relatively spared from the pandemic so far, with some 15,000 deaths since the appearance of the coronavirus on its soil (for a national population of 126 million inhabitants), all without drastic confinements.
But vaccination in the country has started slowly, and at present less than a third of Japanese are fully vaccinated.
Read alsoCovid-19: in Japan, the fourth wave and the slowness of the vaccination arouse anger and concern
Six departments, including those of Tokyo and Osaka (west), are currently under a state of emergency until August 31, a device allowing the government above all to ask bars and restaurants to close earlier and not to serve alcohol , instructions that are not always followed.
A "quasi-state of emergency" applies for other departments of the archipelago, and the government decided Thursday to include eight additional departments in this device.
But health experts question the effectiveness of these measures, even lighter than those provided for by the state of emergency.
"We should really introduce a new kind of measures to deal with this situation," said Koji Wada, professor at the International University of Health and Welfare.
Concern in the midst of the Olympic Games
This outbreak comes as the Tokyo Olympics are in full swing.
But the event, which takes place almost entirely behind closed doors and with many restrictions for all participants, instead contained infections on its perimeter.
To date, the organizers have identified 353 cases of Covid-19 among the tens of thousands of people involved in the Olympics (athletes and management, volunteers, officials, journalists) since July 1.
Despite the fears of Japanese public opinion, the Olympics have not contributed to worsening the health situation in the country, according to the organizers.