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Tokyo logs 188 new coronavirus cases, below 200 for a second day

Aug 11 (Japan Times) - The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 188 new cases of COVID-19 infection Tuesday, holding below the 200 mark for a second straight day, but worries over the spread of the new coronavirus remained amid a heat wave in the middle of the Bon summer holiday period.

The figure, which marked a decline from the 197 cases reported the previous day, brought the city’s total infections to 16,252. The metropolitan government has raised its alert for the pandemic to the highest of four levels, meaning “infections are spreading.”

Tokyo reported daily infections of more than 300 for a fourth straight day on Sunday.

Gov. Yuriko Koike has requested that Tokyoites avoid returning to their hometowns during the holidays.

Traditionally many people in urban areas return to their rural hometowns during Bon but a substantial number of them are refraining from making the trips to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Yasutoshi Nishimura, the economic revitalization minister and the leader of Japan’s response to the coronavirus, said Tuesday that people in Okinawa Prefecture, which has been reporting a sharp rise in new infections recently, should be on alert.

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