The Tokyo metropolitan government upgraded its 4-point assessment of the spread of the novel coronavirus to the most serious level on Wednesday, changing the official description from "Infections are beginning to expand" to "Infections are expanding."
The metropolitan government held a monitoring meeting with experts to discuss the spread of the virus in the capital on the day.
Since the last meeting on July 9, more than 100 daily infections have been confirmed on seven consecutive days. On Friday, a record 243 people were found to be infected with the virus. The seven-day moving average number of new infections as of July 14 was 173.7. The figure was higher than the April 14 figure of 167.0, which was the highest seen during the state of emergency. The number of people with unknown infection routes is also increasing.
On the other hand, as there is currently no trend toward an increase in the number of critically ill patients, the assessment of the healthcare delivery system has been kept at the second most serious level, described as "Need to strengthen the system."
"Infections are expanding and in a difficult situation," Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike told reporters Wednesday.
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