Japan reports 415 Covid deaths, highest-ever tally in single day

Tokyo, Dec 28 As fears of fresh a Covid wave haunt India amid surge in China, Japan on Wednesday recorded 415 Covid deaths, its highest-ever tally for a single day.

According to health ministry data, the country had 216,219 new Covid cases on Wednesday, a 4 per cent increase from a week earlier.

The latest Covid tally is close to the record high of about 260,000 a day in August this year.

Japan's death toll from the virus has reached over 55,000, with more than 28 million cases nationwide.

The Japan Times reported that the resurgence of the Covid virus comes after the government in October removed its cap on daily foreign arrivals and its ban on individual travellers from abroad.

"It also started a subsidy programme for residents to help boost domestic tourism," the report noted.

Visitor arrivals to Japan jumped to nearly 1 million in November, the first full month after the country scrapped Covid curbs that effectively halted tourism for more than two years.

Unlike in some other countries, mask-wearing in Japan has never been mandated by the government.

On October 11, Japan ended some of the world's strictest border controls as Prime Minister Fumio Kishida counted on tourism to boost the economy.

Japan is currently reporting more than 2 lakh new Covid cases every day.

The country is going through the eighth wave of the pandemic.

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