Coronavirus infections surged Saturday to a single-day record of 63 in the capital, while 58 people at a welfare facility in adjacent Chiba Prefecture also tested positive, government officials said.
Tokyo had logged more than 40 infections per day in the past three days, but Saturday’s batch took the total to 362, the highest of all 47 prefectures.
Anticipating an explosion of cases, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike asked residents to stay home this weekend to slow the spread of the virus.
According to the National Cancer Center, two nurses at the National Cancer Center Hospital were among those who tested positive.
In Chiba, meanwhile, Gov. Kensaku Morita announced the same day that a person hospitalized for COVID-19 died on Friday and that a woman in her 40s was found infected on Saturday.
The woman, who works at the welfare facility, was among 58 residents and staff who tested positive there, a prefectural official said.
The group infection occurred at the Hokuso Ikusei-en facility in the town of Tonosho, where people with disabilities engage in craftwork, horticulture and other activities. The welfare facility has 64 staff and 70 residents, many with disabilities, public broadcaster NHK said.
New cases were also reported elsewhere across the country, including two in Okinawa, Prefecture, one in Aichi, a hospital worker in Gunma, a Kanagawa resident who just got back from Britain, and a resident of Ishikawa.
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