Olympic host city Tokyo is on track to a record high of more than 3,000 coronavirus cases after the number of infections almost doubled in a day.
Daily infections in the city, which has seen an influx of overseas visitors for the Games, reached 2,848 on Tuesday, official figures showed. The figure on Monday was 1,429.
Now Tokyo is asking hospitals to raise the number of Covid beds to 6,406 by early next month from the current capacity of 5,967, to avoid people having to sleep on the floor or outside.
Japanese broadcaster TBS also said that hospitals could look at pushing back planned surgery and scaling down other treatments.
The scramble to get more beds comes as the country has vaccinated just 36 per cent of its population with at least one shot, according to a Reuters vaccination tracker.
Thousands of Japanese citizens and health workers had long protested, before the Olympic Games, against the continuation of the tournament because they feared another wave.
Several athletes have already withdrawn from the Games.
