With Japan being hit by a seventh wave of COVID-19 infections, local authorities are scrambling to deal with the rapidly rising number of coronavirus patients.
As the government is not imposing restrictions on activities, it is now facing the two-pronged challenge of preventing the medical system from becoming overwhelmed while at the same time aiming to keep society running as normal.
The number of new infections hit a record high of more than 110,000 nationwide on Saturday amid the spread of highly transmissible BA.5 omicron subvariant. Over 105,500 new infections were reported nationwide Sunday, almost double that of a week earlier and the third straight day that the figure had topped 100,000.