TOKYO -- Japanese officials sounded the alarm Thursday as Tokyo reported record-breaking coronavirus cases for the third-straight day as the Olympics carry on.
Tokyo reported 3,865 new cases, up from 3,177 on Wednesday and double the number a week ago.
"We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude," Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato told reporters. He said cases were soaring not only in the Tokyo area but across the country.
Nationwide, Japan reported more than 9,500 confirmed cases Wednesday, also a record, for a total of about 892,000 infections and about 15,000 deaths.
Japan has kept its cases and deaths lower than many other countries, but its seven-day rolling average is growing and now stands at 28 per 100,000 people nationwide and 88 per 100,000 in Tokyo, according to the Health Ministry. This compares with 18.5 in the United States, 48 in Britain and 2.8 in India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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"While almost nothing is helping to slow the infections, there are many factors that can accelerate them," said Dr. Shigeru Omi, a top government medical adviser, noting the Olympics and summer vacation. "The biggest risk is the lack of a sense of crisis, and without it the infections will further expand and put medical systems under severe strain."
Tokyo has been under its fourth state of emergency since July 12, ahead of the Olympics that began last Friday despite widespread public opposition and concern the event could worsen the outbreak.
People are still roaming the streets despite stay-at-home requests, making the emergency measures largely ineffective at a time the more infectious delta strain is spreading.
OUTBREAKS AT PORTS
Meanwhile in China, roadblocks were set up to check drivers and a disease-control official Thursday called for increased testing of workers at ports after a rash of coronavirus cases traced to a major airport rattled authorities who thought they had the disease under control.
The 171 new cases of the delta variant in the eastern city of Nanjing and surrounding Jiangsu province are modest compared with India and some other countries. But infections traced to Nanjing Lukou International Airport have spread to at least 10 cities.
Nanjing, a city of 9.3 million people northwest of Shanghai, has ordered tens of thousands of people to stay at home and is carrying out mass testing while experts look for the source of the breakout.
The earliest cases were among employees and people who passed through the airport, which serves 30 million passengers a year. Officials cited by Chinese media outlets say airport employees might have been infected from improper handling of trash but did not say how the virus might have gotten there.
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"We should take special measures on high-risk groups, such as those at entry ports, when it comes to tests, discovery, tracing and vaccination," Shao Yiming of the Chinese Center of Disease Control said at a news conference.
Citing unidentified sources, the official newspaper Global Times reported Wednesday that flights at the Nanjing airport will be suspended through Aug. 11. It said airport managers hadn't ruled out a longer suspension.
China has reported 4,363 deaths out of 92,811 confirmed covid-19 cases.
Information for this article was contributed by Mari Yamaguchi and Joe McDonald of The Associated Press.