Japan's daily COVID-19 cases hit record high of 250,403

TOKYO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Japan logged 250,403 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, a daily record high, amid concerns over a strain on the medical system due to a new wave of the pandemic.

Fueled by the highly transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant, the daily tally surpassed the previous record of 249,830 on Aug. 3. A total of 251 new fatalities linked to COVID-19 were confirmed nationwide.

The health ministry said that the number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms went up by 16 from Tuesday to 597, much less than last summer's peak when serious cases exceeded 2,000 for weeks.

Twenty of Japan's 47 prefectures saw record daily counts of new infections. The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday reported 34,243 new coronavirus cases, while Osaka and Aichi prefectures logged 23,730 and 18,862 cases respectively.