Japan's daily COVID cases near 80,000, record high for 3rd day

Japan's daily count of new COVID-19 cases neared 80,000 Thursday to hit a record high for the third consecutive day, as the highly transmissible Omicron variant continues its rapid spread in Tokyo and elsewhere.The nationwide tally on Thursday reached 78,920 as 27 of Japan's 47 prefectures logged record daily high figures, with Tokyo confirming 16,538 coronavirus cases the same day.The number of cases in the capital eclipsed the previous record high of 14,086 logged on Wednesday and is predicted to rise to around 24,000 after a week if the current pace of increase continues.Japan has expand…READ FULL ARTICLE