Japan Reports 1,497 New Coronavirus Cases

Tokyo, March 18 (Jiji Press)--Japan confirmed 1,497 new coronavirus infection cases Thursday, with the daily tally topping 1,000 for the third consecutive day.

The daily count stood at 1,318 a week before.

The death toll linked to the virus grew by 32 from the previous day, while the number of severely ill COVID-19 patients fell by 10 to 325.

In Tokyo, 323 new cases were confirmed, surpassing 300 for three days in a row. While Thursday's number stood below the week-before count of 335, the seven-day average rose 8.8 pct from a week earlier to 297.1.

The number of patients with severe symptoms under Tokyo's criteria rose by three from Wednesday to 44.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]