Reports reaching the desk of Africa Today News, New York has it that Japan has confirmed 10,104 new COVID-19 cases, up some 1,700 from a week before.
According to official numbers, new coronavirus fatalities totaled 17, while the number of severely ill cases rose by two from Thursday to 59.
New positive cases came to 1,441 in Tokyo, up 226 from a week earlier, while one new fatality was confirmed.
The number of seriously ill patients under the Tokyo metropolitan government’s criteria fell by two from the previous day to four.
Read Also: US: Public Health Emergency For COVID-19 To End In May
In another report, the Biden administration has concluded plans to allow the coronavirus public health emergency expire in sometime in May, the White House confirmed last Sunday, a sign that federal officials believe the pandemic has moved into a new, less dire phase.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the move carries both symbolic weight and real-world consequences. Millions of Americans have received free COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines during the pandemic, and not all of that will continue to be free once the emergency is over. The White House wants to keep the emergency in place for several more months so hospitals, health care providers, and health officials can prepare for a host of changes when it ends, officials said.
An average of more than 500 people in the United States are still dying from COVID-19 each day, about twice the number of deaths per day during a bad flu season. But at the three-year mark, the coronavirus is no longer upending everyday life to the extent it once did, partly because much of the population has at least some protection against the virus from vaccinations and prior infections.
Still, the White House said on Monday that the nation needed an orderly transition out of the public health emergency.