The number of novel coronavirus infections confirmed Wednesday in Osaka Prefecture was 878, far surpassing the previous day's record of 719.
The Osaka prefectural government declared a medical emergency earlier the same day, assessing during a task force meeting on the novel coronavirus that the prefecture's medical system was being put under great stress. It was the second time such a declaration was issued, with the first time being last December.
The hospital bed occupancy rate for critically ill patients with COVID-19 was 66.5% as of Tuesday. This was lower than the 70% threshold for a red alert based on the prefecture's Osaka Model index, but the prefectural government raised the alert, saying the criteria might soon be met.
Osaka City has been subject to emergency-level priority measures since Monday and measures such as requesting restaurants to shorten their business hours have been strengthened.
In addition, the prefectural government will ask residents to refrain from going out or moving about the entire prefecture starting Thursday.
"We're in the midst of a medical crisis and we have to prevent the rapid spread of infections," Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said at the meeting.
-- Tokyo mulls priority measures
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said the same day that she is considering to request that the central government apply the emergency-level priority measures to the capital.
The Tokyo metropolitan government announced 555 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus in the capital, the first time that daily cases have exceeded 500 since Feb. 6, when 639 infections were recorded during the second state of emergency.
According to the metropolitan government, the average number of new infections in the past seven days was 417, up 15.6% from 360.7 in the previous seven-day period.
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