TOKYO — Tokyo reported 181 new coronavirus cases Thursday, setting another record daily increase.
The total exceeds 1,500, with infections accelerating in the Japanese capital under a state of emergency.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike urged companies to more quickly shift to remote working and cooperate with the stay-at-home request.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe recently declared the state of emergency in Tokyo and six other prefectures, allowing Koike and other leaders to take tougher steps to ensure social distancing. He urged the people to reduce human interactions by as much as 80%, a level that experts say can help control the outbreak in about a month if strictly observed.
Many people still commuted to work Thursday. Japanese companies have been slow to allow their employees to work remotely. Subway operators say their ridership was less than half. But mobile phone carriers showed crowd sizes in downtown Tokyo were only reduced by 30-40%.
On Wednesday, Japan had 4,768 confirmed cases and 96 deaths.
