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Japan’s capital city reported 18,287 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022. 

Japan’s capital city reported 18,287 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2022.  (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

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TOKYO – Japan’s capital city, preparing for up to 4 inches of predicted snowfall overnight, reported 18,287 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, according to public broadcaster NHK.

Over the past week, the omicron wave on average has generated more than 18,000 new cases per day in the city of 14 million, according to metropolitan government data. However, the new cases Wednesday were 3,000 fewer than a week prior, NHK reported.

The U.S. military on Wednesday reported 108 people tested positive at 15 installations across Japan, with one hospitalization, according to a daily update by U.S. Forces Japan. Daily reports in February have ranged from a high of 162 on Feb. 4 to 103 on Tuesday.

Yokosuka Naval Base, the 7th Fleet’s homeport south of Tokyo, reported 36 new COVID-19 cases, according to USFJ’s update; Yokota Air Base, where USFJ is headquartered, reported 22; and Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, south of Hiroshima, reported 10.

Separately, U.S. Army Japan, headquartered southwest of Tokyo at Camp Zama, said 12 people tested positive between Feb. 2 and Wednesday, according to an Army news release.

Kadena Air Base on Okinawa said it has 108 active cases, according to the base website Wednesday. The installation reported 123 the previous day.

In Okinawa prefecture, 694 people tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the prefectural Department of Public Health and Medical Care. Another 15 people in the U.S. military community were also positive, the department said.

Stars and Stripes reporter Mari Higa contributed to this report.

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Mari Higa is an Okinawa-based reporter/translator who joined Stars and Stripes in 2021. She previously worked as a research consultant and translator. She studied sociology at the University of Birmingham and Hitotsubashi University Graduate School of Social Sciences.
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Joseph Ditzler is a Marine Corps veteran and the Pacific editor for Stars and Stripes. He’s a native of Pennsylvania and has written for newspapers and websites in Alaska, California, Florida, New Mexico, Oregon and Pennsylvania. He studied journalism at Penn State and international relations at the University of Oklahoma.

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