Flu Cases in Japan Hit Record High

Tokyo, Jan. 9 (Jiji Press)--The average number of influenza patients per hospital in Japan in the week that ended Dec. 29 came to 64.39, the highest since the current survey method was adopted in April 1999, the health ministry said Thursday.

The total number of reported flu patients reached 317,812 nationwide, up 1.51-fold from the preceding week, according to data collected from about 5,000 regularly monitored hospitals.

The previous record high was 57.09 in January 2019.

By prefecture, Oita logged the biggest figure with 104.84 patients, followed by Kagoshima with 96.40, Saga with 94.36 and Kumamoto with 92.56.

The number of patients increased from a week before in all 47 prefectures. All except Akita, Yamagata, Toyama and Okinawa saw their numbers exceed the warning level of 30.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]