Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido, one of the country's coldest regions, is in a third wave of COVID-19 infections as winter sets in.
The prefecture reported 166 new coronavirus cases Tuesday, or 18% of Japan's total new cases of 899 on that day. It had 117 deaths Tuesday. Hokkaido saw a record high 200 cases Monday.
A relentless increase of new infections has hit Hokkaido since late October, bringing its cumulative total cases to 4,364. This number represents 4% of Japan's total cases, which are now some 108,000.
Hokkaido has the eighth most infection of Japan's 47 prefectures. Leading Japan in the number of confirmed cases are Tokyo with 33,000, Osaka with 14,000 and Aichi with 7,000.
Hokkaido is now in stage 2 under the government's four-stage scale measuring the severity of the outbreak.
Japan may be forced to impose stronger measures to limit economic and social activity. These include business closures and domestic travel restrictions.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said should Hokkaido's upward trend continue the prefecture might reach stage 3 and be removed from the Go To Travel campaign promoting domestic tourism.
Japan public health experts are worried the cold weather in Hokkaido will lead to larger numbers of new cases as people are forced to stay indoors. Temperatures in Hokkaido sank to 0.8 C in Sapporo on Tuesday.
It is a coincidence Hokkaido was the first prefecture to report a significant jump in new infections earlier this year and is again leading Japan in new daily cases as the virus resurges, according to Koji Wada, a professor in public health at the International University of Health and Welfare. Wada is also a member of the government's expert panel on the novel coronavirus.
Wada said what was happening in Hokkaido, and the way officials respond to the new cases, will serve as a reference for other parts where new cases are beginning to increase again.
The government is warning new cases will increase rapidly if countermeasures aren't taken immediately.
"New infections are certainly on the rise across the country," said Shigeru Omi, who heads the government's COVID-19 subcommittee and who also serves as director of the Japan Community Healthcare Organization.
Omi's subcommittee has encouraged the government to increase testing in food establishments where cluster infections are rising.
