Japan's COVID-19 cases rise 87% during first week of Olymics

Aug 02, 2021 | News On Japan

Aug 02, 2021 (UPI) - Halfway through the Summer Olympics in Japan, coronavirus cases are surging in the nation during a state of emergency though the outbreak is nowhere near as severe as other places as the world deal with a more contagious Delta variant.

Tokyo 2020 boss Toshiro Muto said at a news conference Sunday that the COVID-19 surge is not linked to the Games, which included 11,000 athletes representing 206 countries. The positivity rate is only 0.02% -- 72 out of around 350,000 tests through Friday, which includes participants and other stakeholders.

On the 10th day of the Olympics, including the opening ceremonies, Japan announced five additional deaths and 10,177 cases, compared with four fatalities and 5,020 infections one week earlier. In one week Japan's total cases have risen 87% to 937,293, which is 33rd in the world. Deaths have gone up 68 down 24% from the previous week, to a total of 15,211, ranking 37th globally.

Japan has 7,344 infections per million compared with the world at 25,495, the United States at 107,311, Britain at 85,783 and Indonesia at 12,436. For fatalities, Japan is at 121 fatalities per million compared with the world at 543.5, the United States at 1,889, Britain at 1,899, Indonesia at 346.

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