In the week through Sunday, Japan logged more new COVID-19 cases than anywhere else in the world.
Amid a seventh wave of infections, daily case numbers have been reaching unprecedented highs, with the nation logging 969,000 cases over the seven-day span to Sunday. By comparison, after the first COVID-19 case was detected in Japan, it took 19 months for the country to log its 1 millionth case.
Driving the surge is a coronavirus subvariant called BA.5, which has recently overtaken other omicron subvariants to become the dominant strain worldwide.