TOKYO, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga reiterated his call for measures to be taken to tackle a resurgence of COVID-19 cases across the country as Japan confirmed a record-high number of cases on Friday.

Suga told reporters Friday that cases had been surging in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Osaka and Aichi prefectures.

The prime minister's remarks came as the nation has seen record high cases of COVID-19 for two consecutive days.

He said that having been briefed on the situation by Economic Revitalization Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, who is also in charge of Japan's coronavirus response and Health Minister Norihisa Tamura, he had instructed his ministers to make all-out efforts to tackle the spread of the virus while working with local governments.

As to the government subsidized "Go To Travel" campaign, launched to encourage increased domestic travel to help the ailing tourism industry, he said based on experts' views it needn't be reviewed at this juncture.

Suga made the same point regarding declaring a new state of emergency.

The Japanese prime minister went on to urge people to maintain basic antiviral measures and avoid high-risk situations such as eating out in groups and holding conversations without wearing face masks.

Suga's remarks were followed later in the day by Japan reporting 1,693 new daily COVID-19 cases, marking a fresh record high following the previous day's tally.

The latest rise in cases brings the nation's cumulative total of novel coronavirus infections to 115,516, not including those connected to a cruise ship that was quarantined near Tokyo earlier in the year.

Health ministry officials said Friday that 231 people testing positive for the virus have been designated as being in a "severe condition" and are being treated with breathing apparatus in medical facilities.

Tokyo, the hardest hit among Japan's 47 prefectures by the pneumonia-causing virus, confirmed 374 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.

This marks the third consecutive day the daily tally in the capital of 14 million has topped the 300-mark and has brought the city's cumulative total of COVID-19 cases to 34,144.

Japan's western prefecture of Osaka, the second hardest hit region in Japan by the virus, reported 263 new cases on Friday, bringing its total caseload to 14,870 infections.

The country's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, meanwhile, the location of a spike in infections and outbreaks of clusters recently, reported 235 new infections, to total 5,055.

Official have said that as the temperature drops as winter approaches, particularly in northern regions, more people are staying indoors, sometimes in poorly ventilated rooms, which has helped the virus to spread.

Tokyo's neighboring prefecture of Kanagawa, for its part, saw cases rise by 146 on Friday to 9,893 infections, according to the latest data Friday evening.

Infections in Kanagawa remain the third highest in Japan.

Confirmed deaths in the country have now reached a total of 1,895, the latest figures on Friday evening showed. Enditem

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