Tokyo records most new coronavirus cases in a day as pressure for lockdown builds

FILE PHOTO - Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (R) talks with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso at the lower house of parliament in Tokyo, Japan, October 24, 2018. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's capital recorded more than 70 new coronavirus infections on Tuesday for its highest tally in a single day, as pressure mounted on the prime minister to order a lockdown.

Japanese cases topped 2,000, and public broadcaster NHK said 78 cases in Tokyo took its tally of infections past 500. Media reports said 7 people in the city had died, five at one hospital.