Tokyo: Japan's daily Covid-19 cases topped the 20,000 mark for the first time since the onset of the pandemic early last year, while Tokyo also reported a record high number if single-day infections, according to the government.
The latest figures increased the country's overall case tally to 1,087,779, while the death toll stood at 15,358.
The 5,773 new infections confirmed in Tokyo on Friday is the second time the daily figure topped 5,000, reports Xinhua news agency.
The new cases in Tokyo surpassed the previous high of 5,042 logged a week earlier. The number of severe cases in Tokyo also rose to a new record to 227 from the previous high of 218 logged earlier in the week.
The seven-day rolling average of infections for Tokyo also increased to 4,155.7 per day, rising 8.8 per cent from the previous week.
Japan's number of Covid-19 patients with severe symptoms also rose to the highest-ever 1,478 nationwide, exceeding the previous record of 1,413 recorded in late May, the Health Ministry said.
The recent surge comes at the peak of the summer holiday season.
Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike has called on residents not to travel to other prefectures.
"We are now facing the biggest crisis since the pandemic began, which amounts to a disaster. We want to ask everyone to act to protect their own lives," Koike said in a statement on Friday.
Since mid-July, severe cases of COVID-19 patients have increased rapidly across Japan.
Due to the slow progress of the country's vaccination campaign, such severe cases have risen among those in their 40s and 50s mainly in Tokyo, and among patients, young generations have also been found with serious symptoms, which are defined as those with the demand of assistance by ventilators, artificial heart-lung bypass devices or treatment at intensive care units.
Tokyo's healthcare system is under increasing strain, with an occupied rate of the capital's hospital beds allocated for seriously ill Covid-19 patients over 50 per cent.
The global coronavirus caseload has topped 206 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 4.34 million and vaccinations soared to over 4.61 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
In its latest update on Saturday morning, the University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) revealed that the current global caseload, death toll and vaccination tally stood at 206,196,367, 4,344,715 and 4,610,658,306 , respectively.
The US continues to be the worst-hit country with the world's highest number of cases and deaths at 36,592,398 and 621,005, respectively, according to the CSSE.
In terms of infections, India follows in the second place with 32,117,826 cases.
The other worst countries with over 3 million cases are Brazil (20,319,000), France (6,471,262), Russia (6,468,890), the UK (6,241,443), Turkey (6,039,827), Argentina (5,074,725), Colombia (4,860,622), Spain (4,693,540), Italy (4,427,827), Iran (4,359,385), Germany (3,819,876), Indonesia (3,804,943) and Mexico (3,068,329), the CSSE figures showed.
In terms of deaths, Brazil comes second with 567,862 fatalities.
Nations with a death toll of over 100,000 are India (430,254), Mexico (247,414), Peru (197,279), Russia (165,996), the UK (131,116), Italy (128,379), Colombia (123,221), Indonesia (115,096), France (112,705) and Argentina (108,815).
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