Tokyo logged 2,612 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus on Tuesday, down 1,097 from a week ago.
It was the first time in 17 days the daily tally was lower than the figure logged on the same day in the previous week.
The number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients increased by 19 from Monday to a record high 176, exceeding the previous high of 160 on Jan. 20.
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