Tokyo daily COVID-19 cases exceed 10,000 for the first time since March

The number of cases in Japan’s capital hit 11,511 in the past 24 hours – the most since 16 March, exceeding 10,000 cases. The trend as a whole in Japan highlights a rising number of cases just as the country is looking to take steps to reopen to the world:

But for now at least, the head of the COVID-19 experts panel, Shigeru Omi, says that there is no need to impose movement restrictions. Adding that the latest spike in cases is likely fueled by the spread of the BA.5 subvariant of the omicron variant.

It will be interesting to see how this will impact the government’s plans to ease travel restrictions in the months ahead and if domestically, there will be any impact on the economy again.