As Japan is grappling with an ongoing eighth wave of the Covid pandemic, the country registered 371 deaths due to the virus, the highest single-day tally since the outbreak began in early 2020, health authorities said.
The previous high of 347 Covid deaths was reported on September 2 during the seventh wave, Xinhua news agency quoted the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare as saying.
The new figure has pushed op the overall death toll to 54,680 as of Saturday morning.
Among prefectures, Kanagawa on Friday reported the highest number of deaths with 28, followed by Hokkaido with 25, Tokyo with 24, and Osaka with 19.
Japan also recorded 174,079 new cases on Friday, up about 20,000 from the same day last week.
The total caseload now stands at 27,939,118.