Coronavirus live news: Hong Kong and California see record daily cases; ‘huge discrepancy’ in South Africa death toll

A record 366 new coronavirus infections have been reported in Japan’s capital of Tokyo, its governor said on Thursday, fuelling fears of a second round of infections.

As Japan began a four-day stretch of holidays, the city’s government declared its highest alert against the disease.

Thursday’s figure took cumulative infections to more than 10,000 in Tokyo, topping a daily high of 293 cases last week.

Pedestrians walk past event posters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.


Pedestrians walk past event posters for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Photograph: Kimimasa Mayama/EPA

Meanwhile, China reported 22 new coronavirus cases in the mainland for 22 July, up from 14 cases a day earlier, the health commission said.

Of the new infections, 18 were in the far western region of Xinjiang and one was in Dalian city in the northeastern Liaoning province. The other three were imported cases.

The Dalian case involved a 58-year-old man working at a seafood processing company. Multiple samples collected from the company, including frozen food, processing workshop, canteen and office building also tested positive, state media said.

On Thursday, Dalian reported two new locally transmitted cases and 12 asymptomatic ones, all close contacts of the case from Wednesday, state media said citing Dalian government.

Earlier this month, customs in Dalian found the coronavirus in the packaging of frozen shrimps imported from Ecuador. China suspended imports from three Ecuadorean shrimp producers after detecting the virus.

Dalian, with a population of nearly 7 million, plans to conduct nucleic acid testing for 190,000 people in the city, state media said.

As of Wednesday, mainland China had 83,729 confirmed coronavirus cases, the health authority said. The Covid-19 death toll remained at 4,634.