Japan's daily coronavirus tally totaled 95,916 cases on Monday, falling below 100,000 for the first time in six weeks.
While numbers for Mondays are typically lower than for other days due to reduced testing on the weekend, the last time the nationwide tally was below six digits was on July 19.
Tokyo accounted for 9,880 of the cases, falling below 10,000 for the first time since July 11. The capital's seven-day rolling average of new infections stood at 18,800.9 per day, down 24 percent from the previous week.
Among other prefectures, Fukuoka logged 5,729 cases, while Saitama reported 5,419.
Across Japan, patients with severe symptoms rose by one from the previous day to 628, the health ministry said.
A ministry panel approved Monday the use of U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer Inc.'s COVID-19 booster shots for children aged 5 to 11, the first for the age group in Japan.
The panel also granted special fast-track approval for the manufacturing and sale of Evusheld, a COVID-19 antibody drug by Britain's AstraZeneca Plc.
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