Osaka Prefecture confirmed 121 new coronavirus infections Wednesday, its highest daily tally, Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said, raising concerns over a spike in virus cases following a resurgence in Tokyo.

About 70 percent of the cases involved people in their 30s or younger, a sign that infections are spreading in entertainment districts, according to Yoshimura.

As of Tuesday, Osaka had confirmed a total of 2,541 cases, including the previous daily record of 92 logged on April 9.

Since a nationwide state of emergency was lifted in late May, the number of cases in Osaka had fallen before an uptick in July, with more than half the cases involving untraceable routes.

Wednesday's tally was the first report of triple-digit new infections by Osaka. However, the central government has no plans to exclude the prefecture from a travel subsidy campaign that kicked off the same day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said at a press conference.

Yoshimura said that it is unclear how the central government decides on the removal of areas from the Go To Travel Campaign designed to help revive the domestic tourism industry, which has been stricken by the virus. It should establish a criteria for excluding regions which are seeing an increase in virus cases, he said.

Japan's travel subsidy campaign was thrown into disarray last week when the government made an abrupt decision to exclude Tokyo due to a spike in new cases in the capital.


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