Japan's health ministry says it confirmed 1,454 new cases of coronavirus infection in Tokyo on Thursday.

The figure is down 719 from a week ago, for a 30th straight day of week-on-week decline.

The number of severely ill COVID patients stands at 16, down one from Wednesday.

There were 12 deaths linked to COVID-19 in the capital on Thursday.

Nationwide, 21,347 new cases were confirmed on Thursday. That's less than 10 percent of the peak figure recorded in early January. But the daily fatality count remained relatively high, at 172. There were 254 seriously ill patients -- down 4 from Wednesday.

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