Society

Tokyo reports 39 new coronavirus cases Saturday

Jun 21 (Japan Times) - The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 39 COVID-19 infections on Saturday, marking more than 20 new reported cases for three straight days in the capital.

Although the capital fully lifted its business closure request on Friday, Tokyoâ€™s number of daily infections have been much higher than other prefectures amid a push by the Tokyo government to aggressively test nightlife workers.

In the past week, Tokyo had multiple days where it reported 20 to 40 infections while neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture has kept its daily number of cases in single digits.

According to local media, 11 of the 39 cases on Saturday are of host club workers in the Shinjuku area.

As of Saturday, the capitalâ€™s daily number of new cases stood at 36.1. Keeping the weekly average of daily cases under 20 is one of Tokyoâ€™s own criteria for easing business closure and stay-at-home requests.

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A 25-year-old woman arrested as a suspected ringleader in a robbery-murder case in Tochigi Prefecture once posted cheerful dance videos on social media and was remembered by those who knew her as an energetic and outgoing young woman.

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