Eighty-six members of a high school soccer club in Shimane Prefecture have been infected with the novel coronavirus, as well as two teachers involved with the club.
A total of 1,444 new cases of infection with the coronavirus were confirmed Sunday, in Tokyo and 37 prefectures and at airport quarantine stations. It was the sixth consecutive day that the number of newly confirmed infections had topped 1,000.
Five people died Sunday in Chiba, Ishikawa and other prefectures.
In Shimane Prefecture, 92 people, mainly high school students, were found to be infected on Sunday. According to the Shimane prefectural and Matsue municipal governments, up through Saturday only 31 people had been found to be infected. Sunday's figure of 92 represented three times the entire number of previously confirmed cases.
Of the 92 people, 86 belonged to a soccer club at Rissho Univ. Shonan High School. Eighty of them reportedly lived in a dormitory.
One club member tested positive on Saturday, so 149 other students who had been in close contact with the infected person were given PCR tests.
The Matsue municipal government was to continue testing on Monday, on the premise that a cluster has broken out.
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