Photo/Illutration Shoppers at Takashimaya department store’s Nihonbashi outlet in Tokyo’s Chuo Ward on Jan. 2 (Nobuo Fujiwara)

Tokyo reported 103 new COVID-19 cases on Jan. 3, topping 100 for the first time since 135 infections were confirmed on Oct. 8, metropolitan health officials said.

The latest figure was 68 more than the tally for the previous Monday, and it brought the daily average of new cases over the week through Jan. 3 to 75.7, an increase of 96.1 percent from the average for the week earlier, according to officials.

Osaka Prefecture logged 79 new cases on Jan. 3, the seventh straight day for the daily count to top 50. The patients included 19 students and teachers at the public Kitano High School in Osaka city.

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, 56 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed on Jan. 3, prefectural officials said, adding that community infections appear to be spreading.

Forty-four of the new patients live in Iwakuni, home to a U.S. military base.

U.S. authorities in Iwakuni announced that 50 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed among U.S. military personnel between Jan. 1 and Jan. 3, but they did not say if the Omicron variant was responsible.

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