High-rise buildings are seen in the heart of Tokyo, with the Imperial Palace in the foreground, in this photo taken from a Mainichi Shimbun helicopter in the capital's Chiyoda Ward. (Mainichi/Kentaro Ikushima)

       TOKYO -- Japan's capital recorded 20 new COVID-19 cases on Dec. 17, after reporting 30 infections the previous day, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government announced.

       Tokyo recorded 127 new coronavirus infections in the second week of December, or 18.1 per day on average, up slightly from 15.9 in the first week. The capital saw a total of 562 coronavirus infections in November for an average of 18.7 cases per day, far below the 2,176 total cases in October (an average of 70.2 cases per day) and September's 31,929 total cases (an average of 1,064.3 per day).

       By Dec. 16, 3,172 people had died of COVID-19 in Tokyo since the pandemic began in Japan in the spring of 2020.

       Tokyo has recorded 382,492 infections to date, the most among Japan's 47 prefectures. As of Dec. 16, there were 87 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in Tokyo, three with severe symptoms.

       (Mainichi)

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