All national dailies ran extensive reports on the 32,197 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Japan on Tuesday, topping 30,000 for the first time and surpassing the previous record of 25,992 logged on Aug. 20, 2021. The nationwide figure of 32,197 was about five times higher than a week ago. The number of seriously ill patients was 261, up 18 from the previous day, and 10 patients died.

Tokyo confirmed 5,185 new cases, topping 5,000 for the first time since Aug. 21 and increasing more than fivefold from a week earlier. Osaka reported 5,396 new cases, surpassing its all-time daily high of 3,760 recorded on Sunday. Seventeen other prefectures also confirmed record-high numbers of new cases on Tuesday. The ratio of Omicron infections was 16% nationwide from Dec. 20–26; 46% nationwide from Dec.27–Jan. 2; and 83% in Tokyo, 88% in Osaka, and 100% in eight other prefectures from Jan. 3–9.

In a related report, Mainichi wrote that a group of University of Tokyo scientists announced on Tuesday the results of a simulation showing that the number of daily COVID-19 cases in Tokyo could reach 10,000 by the end of this month.