Coronavirus cases in Tokyo leap to new record of 2,848 amid Olympics

A four-day weekend to celebrate the opening of the sports spectacle is also likely to have led to a backlog of testing

Daily coronavirus infections in Tokyo surged to a record 2,848 cases, about double the number found a week earlier, just as the Japanese capital hosts tens of thousands for the Olympics.

Tuesday’s figure eclipses a previous peak of 2,520 set in January. Serious cases rose to 82 from 78 a day earlier, and the seven-day average of new infections climbed to about 1,763, figures released by the city showed. Experts had earlier expressed fears that Tokyo infections could reach their worst-ever levels during the games, due to the spread of the delta variant.

Neighboring Saitama prefecture also reported a record 593 cases,