Japan could face a resurgence of coronavirus infections, although the number of cases has been on a downward trend since late July, Kyodo cited a group of experts on virus prevention as saying..
The pace of decline in the number of new infections has been slowing recently, with some regions even marking a rebound, the advisory group for the health ministry said.
Across the country, new infections totaled 3,287 in the seven days through Sept. 22, down from 3,731 in the previous week.
But they also said that the effective reproduction number, which measures the average number of people one person can infect, has risen to almost one.
Although the number of patients with severe symptoms has been on a downturn nationwide since late August, the rate of decline has been relatively low.
Outbreaks at dining establishments and workplaces have been reported since economic activity resumed, likely due to people taking off their face masks while speaking.
There have also been reports of cluster infections at construction sites, food processing factories and barbeque parks. Health experts are also watching to see if more frequent outings or even traveling over Japan's four-day holiday period through Tuesday may have caused a resurgence of the virus.
