Japan's daily COVID cases top 50,000

Japan's confirmed daily coronavirus cases on Saturday topped 50,000, setting a new record for the fifth day in a row, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues to spread across Japan quickly, Report informs, referring to Kyodo News.

Of the total, Tokyo confirmed 11,227 daily cases, surpassing its previous record high of 9,699 logged Friday, with Osaka Prefecture in western Japan also hitting a fresh high of 7,375 on Saturday.

The nationwide tally eclipsed the previous record high of 49,854 reported on Friday.