Japan's Covid-19 cases reached a new daily record on Wednesday, as the government faced mounting pressure from health experts to impose a strict state of emergency for the Tokyo greater metropolitan area.
Rising infections have driven Tokyo and surrounding areas to the highest level of a four-stage alert, prompting regional governors to call for a declaration of emergency that Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is expected to announce on Thursday.
The health ministry held a meeting of infectious disease experts on Wednesday, the second in as many days. They have called for stricter and longer countermeasures, while Suga has sought a more limited response to avoid damaging the economy.
"Even if we take strong measures immediately, it will be difficult to bring the Tokyo metropolitan area down to stage 3 by the end of January," Takaji Wakita, chief of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, told reporters after the meeting.
New infections nationwide reached at least 6 001, a new daily record according to a tally by national broadcaster NHK. Tokyo reported 1 591 cases, also an all-time high.
Meanwhile, the daily number of Covid-19 cases in Portugal, a nation of just over 10 million people, reached a record high of 10 027 on Wednesday, as the country prepares to approve an extension of a state of emergency to fight a worrying increase in infections.
Lebanon's health ministry confirmed a new daily record of 4 166 coronavirus infections Wednesday, as medics warn that the healthcare system is struggling to cope.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, Lebanon has recorded nearly 200 000 cases including 1 537 deaths, according to health ministry figures. A total of 21 people died on Wednesday.