Japan COVID cases hit 1 million as infections spread beyond Tokyo

TOKYO - Japan reached the milestone of one million coronavirus cases on Friday, domestic media reported, as infections soared in Olympic host Tokyo and other urban areas as the country struggled to contain the Delta variant.

New cases in Tokyo hit 4,515, the second highest after Thursday's record 5,042, while the neighbouring, populous prefecture of Kanagawa saw its cases soaring to more than 2,000, quadrupling in less than two weeks. Infections in Osaka, the biggest city in the country's west, also rose to a record-breaking 1,310, in a sign the pathogen is quickly spreading outside Tokyo.