A month after Japan downgraded COVID-19 to a status on par with that of seasonal flu, the nation may be on the cusp of a ninth COVID-19 wave, with the number of new infections increasing to nearly twice the level seen before the downgrade, according to health ministry statistics released Friday.
The number of new patients reported in the week from June 5 through Sunday by around 5,000 designated hospitals and clinics across the country was 25,163, or an average of 5.11 patients per facility, the ministry said in its weekly report. That’s up from 4.55 in the previous week, and from 2.63 between May 8 and May 14.
By region, the spike in cases stands out in Okinawa Prefecture, where the average number of new patients per facility surged to 18.41 in the week through Sunday, up from 6.07 four weeks before.