The daily number of new COVID-19 cases in Tokyo came to 18,731 on Saturday, up by about 1,700 from a week earlier.

A total of 19 fatalities were reported in the capital among COVID-19 patients on the day, while 44 infected people were severely ill under the capital's criteria, up by one from the previous day.

On Friday, Japan reported a record 371 COVID-19 deaths as the number of new infections rose by about 20,600 from a week before to reach 174,082.