Tokyo Raises COVID-19 Alert to 2nd-Highest Level

Tokyo, Nov. 17 (Jiji Press)--The Tokyo metropolitan government raised its COVID-19 alert to the second-highest level on its four-tier scale Thursday.

At the day's coronavirus monitoring meeting of the metropolitan government, an expert warned that the Japanese capital "can be considered to be entering the eighth wave of infections."

The COVID-19 alert was set at the second-highest level for the first time since Oct. 6.

As of Wednesday, the seven-day average of new infections in Tokyo stood at 8,019.7, up by around 24 pct from a week before.

If new infections increase at the current pace, the seven-day average would reach around 12,300 by the end of this month, according to an estimate presented at the monitoring meeting.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]