Tokyo reported 814 new COVID-19 cases on Saturday, as the metropolitan government and three prefectures neighboring the capital were set to request that the central government issue a state of emergency over the coronavirus following a recent surge in cases.
Saturday's figure came two days after the capital saw a record 1,337 infections.
Among the daily total Saturday, 118 cases involved people age 65 or older while the number of severely ill patients, based on city’s standards, came to 94, up eight from the previous day.
People in their 20s made up the largest group, at 213, followed by 138 people in their 40s and 137 people in their 30s. The cumulative number of infections in the capital stood at 61,774.
The spike in new cases in the capital comes after 3,816 coronavirus tests were administered on Wednesday. It usually takes around three days for tests to produce results.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike was expected to make the emergency request later in the day in a meeting with Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the government's coronavirus response, sources familiar with the matter said. Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures were expected to join Tokyo in making the request, the sources said.