Japan reported 233,100 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, surpassing the highest number of about 210,000 on Wednesday, local Kyodo News Agency reported.

Tokyo, capital of Japan, reported a record high of 40,406 new cases in the day, surpassing 40,000 for the first time as the country battles its seventh wave of the COVID-19 pandemic driven by the highly transmissible BA.5 Omicron subvariant.

(Cover: A pedestrian crossing at the Ginza district in Tokyo, Japan, July 28, 2022. /CFP)