Officials sound alarm as Japan COVID cases hit record highs

The Delta variant, holidays and the Olympics are contributing to the rise in infections, the country’s top adviser warned.

Japanese officials are sounding the alarm as Tokyo reports record-breaking coronavirus cases for the third straight day with the Olympics well under way. Tokyo reported 3,865 new cases in the past 24 hours, up from 3,177 on Wednesday and double the numbers a week ago. “We have never experienced the expansion of infections of this magnitude,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters on Thursday, adding that new cases were soaring not only in the Tokyo area but across the country.