By Riyaz ul Khaliq
ISTANBUL (AA) – Japan’s daily COVID-19 tally topped 46,000 on Thursday to set a new record for the third consecutive day.
Japan is battling a “sixth wave” of infections driven by the highly transmissible omicron variant.
The capital Tokyo also saw a new peak of 8,638 daily coronavirus cases, smashing the previous record of 7,377 registered on Wednesday, Kyodo News reported.
In an effort to rein in spiraling infections, the government will expand its quasi-state of emergency across 13 provinces, including Tokyo, from Friday.
Japan’s overall case tally has now climbed over 2 million, including 18,457 deaths.