Japan posted more than 260,000 daily coronavirus infections on Friday, setting a new record high for a second straight day.

The figure apparently reflected increased movements by people during Japan's Bon summer holidays in mid-August. Of the country's 47 prefectures, 19 reported record high numbers of daily infections.

Friday's nationwide tally eclipsed the previous record of about 255,000 cases logged Thursday and came as Japan grapples with a seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic propelled by the highly transmissible Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

Of Friday's cases, 27,676 were in Tokyo, 22,798 in Osaka, 17,716 in Aichi and 15,726 in Fukuoka.

The daily death toll totaled 294, with the seven-day rolling average hitting a record of over 250, surpassing levels logged during the sixth wave of infections, according to the health ministry.

The number of patients with severe symptoms came to 627, up 17 from Thursday, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

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