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People wearing look masks to support against the dispersed of the coronavirus locomotion nether a h2o mist successful Tokyo Thursday, Aug. 5, 2021. New cases surge successful Tokyo to grounds levels during the Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)

TOKYO – Tokyo reported 5,042 caller regular coronavirus cases connected Thursday, hitting a grounds since the pandemic began arsenic the infections surge successful the Japanese superior hosting the Olympics.

The further cases brought the full for Tokyo to 236,138. Nationwide, Japan reported much than 14,000 cases connected Wednesday for a full of 970,000.

Tokyo has been nether a authorities of exigency since mid-July, and 4 different areas person since been added and extended until Aug. 31. But the measures, fundamentally a prohibition connected intoxicant successful restaurants and bars and their shorter hours, are progressively ignored by the public, which has go bushed of restrictions.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga has denied that the July 23-Aug. 8 Olympics person caused a emergence successful infections.

Alarmed by the gait of the spread, immoderate experts person called for a existent authorities of exigency successful Tokyo and 5 different areas to beryllium expanded nationwide.

Instead, Suga connected Thursday announced a milder mentation of the exigency measures successful 8 prefectures, including Fukushima successful the eastbound and Kumamoto successful the south, expanding the areas to 13 prefectures.

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Experts astatine a Tokyo metropolitan authorities sheet cautioned that infections propelled by the much contagious delta variant person go “explosive” and could transcend 10,000 cases a time successful 2 weeks.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.