People walk down Takeshita Street in the popular Harajuku area of Tokyo on Sept 23, 2022. (RICHARD A. BROOKS / AFP)
TOKYO / SINGAPORE / MANILA / HANOI / YANGON – The Japanese government on Thursday decided on a policy to allow each prefectural government to declare stepped-up coronavirus measures, amid growing concerns about the possible arrival of the eighth infection wave.
Japan's health ministry also decided at a meeting to revise the current five-scale alert of infection status to a four-scale one. A level similar to the seventh wave or higher will be rated as Level 3, which means infections continue to expand.
The country logged 78,268 new infections nationwide on the same day, up more than 10,000 from a week ago, with 84 new fatalities among COVID-19 patients.
ALSO READ: Japan offers COVID-19 shots to children aged 6 months to 4 yrs
Tokyo confirmed 7,969 daily cases, with Hokkaido reporting 8,457 and Kanagawa prefecture 5,190.
According to the health ministry, Hokkaido, the northernmost main island, saw the highest rise among the 47 prefectures with 850 cases per 100,000 people in the most recent week, adding that in areas with colder weather, infections could spread faster due to the difficulty in implementing ventilation.
Shigeru Omi, who heads the panel of experts advising the health ministry, said Thursday the number of new infections is now on an upward trend across Japan, adding that it can be said that the country is now entering the eighth wave of infections.
On Wednesday, the ministry's experts panel warned that the latest wave of infections might match or exceed the previous wave's peak of more than 260,000 daily cases seen in August.
READ MORE: Visa-free travel brings fears of COVID-19 rebound in Japan
People wearing face masks cross a road amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Singapore May 14, 2021. (CAROLINE CHIA / REUTERS)
Singapore
Singapore reported 2,765 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, bringing the total tally to 2,134,319.
A total of 294 cases are currently warded in hospitals, with 14 of them in intensive care units, according to statistics released by the country's Ministry of Health.
No new deaths from COVID-19 were reported on Thursday, leaving the total death toll unchanged at 1,693.
Philippines
The Philippines reported 1,267 new COVID-19 infections on Thursday, pushing the number of confirmed cases in the Southeast Asian country to 4,014,039.
The Department of Health said the number of active cases rose to 16,526, while seven more patients died from COVID-19 complications, pushing the country's death toll to 64,329.
READ MORE: Singapore reports 2,686 new COVID-19 cases
Metro Manila, the capital region with over 13 million people, tallied 283 new cases.
The Philippines reported its highest COVID-19 single-day tally of 39,004 new cases on Jan 15. The country, with a population of around 110 million, has fully vaccinated over 73.6 million people.
A health worker takes sample from a man for COVID-19 test in Hanoi, Vietnam on Jan 6, 2022. (HAU DINH / AP)
Vietnam
Vietnam recorded 416 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, down by 52 from Wednesday, according to its ministry of health.
All the new cases were locally transmitted, said the ministry.
The newly reported infections brought the total tally to 11,507,540. The country reported no new deaths from the pandemic on Thursday, with the total fatalities staying at 43,166.
As of Thursday, there were 57 severe cases in need of assisted breathing in the Southeast Asian country, according to the ministry.
READ MORE: Vietnam sees lowest daily count of COVID-19 cases in a year
Nationwide, 10,605,468 COVID-19 patients, or over 92 percent of the total infections, have recovered.
Approximately 262.5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country, including over 222.1 million shots to people aged 18 and above, said the ministry.
Myanmar
Myanmar confirmed 61 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the tally to 632,522, according to the Ministry of Health on Thursday.
The ministry said in a statement that health authorities tested 10,064 people for COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, and the daily positivity rate was 0.61 percent.
The death toll from COVID-19 in the country remained unchanged at 19,486 on Thursday as no new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours, the ministry said.
ALSO READ: South Korea reports 55,365 new COVID-19 cases
The total number of patients who have recovered from COVID-19 in the country reached 606,791, including 67 new recoveries on Thursday.
The Southeast Asian country detected its first COVID-19 cases in March 2020.