Health experts warned Thursday it is too early to judge whether coronavirus cases in Tokyo are on a downward trend, despite relatively fewer numbers in recent days, citing the possibility that many infected people remain untested.
The metropolitan government reported 4,704 new infections, with the seven-day rolling average standing at 4,352.9 per day, down 8.8 percent from the previous week. The average dropped for the second straight day after marking its first decline in nearly two months.
"There may be a large number of potentially infected people who have not been tested," the experts said in their assessment presented at a metropolitan government meeting on monitoring COVID-19. They also underscored that it is unclear whether the average will decrease further.
The number of coronavirus patients with severe symptoms fell by one from the previous day to 276 in Tokyo, which has been under its latest COVID-19 state of emergency for over a month.
New cases in the capital topped 100,000 in August alone.
Japan has been battling with an alarming rise in the number of daily infections caused by the highly contagious Delta variant, with the medical system close to breaking point.
