Japan PM Kishida tests COVID positive, symptoms mild
Aug 21, 2022
Tokyo [Japan], August 21 : Amid a sharp spike in the COVID cases in Japan, the country's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida tested positive Sunday for the novel coronavirus, media reports said citing the premier's office.
To recover from the contracted virus, Kishida is now resting at his official residence. The Japanese PM started experiencing mild symptoms such as a slight fever and cough on Saturday night, Japan's local media outlet Kyodo News reported citing the office.
The 65-year-old Japanese leader was scheduled to resume his duties on Monday after taking a roughly weeklong summer vacation with his family.
Japan reported 253,265 additional coronavirus cases Saturday, marking the third straight day of over 250,000 with no end in sight for the ongoing seventh wave of infections.
Tokyo reported 25,277 new cases, up 1,504 from the same day a week earlier, while in Osaka Prefecture, 23,098 new cases were reported. Record numbers of cases were confirmed in Miyagi, Yamagata, Tottori, Okayama and Tokushima prefectures, with 254 additional deaths nationally.
Japan had reported two straight days of record infections with 261,029 new cases on Friday, apparently reflecting increased movements of people during the Bon summer holidays in mid-August.
On Saturday, the nation's capital reported 23 deaths from COVID-19. The seven-day rolling average of new infections stood at 25,601.1 per day, 2.1 per cent lower than the previous week.
People in their 20s accounted for 4,886 cases, while there were 2,573 new infections among those aged 65 or older.
Osaka reported 28 new deaths. Moreover, coronavirus cases among children remain high amid the seventh wave of infections in Japan, with the weekly number of new cases for the age group hitting over 300,000 at one point, doubling the peak hit during the sixth wave earlier this year.
However, the vaccination rate for 5 to 11-year-olds has been sluggish, with the health ministry in response stepping up its calls for parents to actively consider inoculation from a public health perspective, as per the media portal.
Though new infections have begun to decline, figures have remained high, amounting to some 288,900 as of the week ending August 12, forcing the closure of over 100 nursery schools and other children's institutions nationwide, as well as some elementary schools prior to entering the Japanese summer break.
