Health authorities across Japan have reported a record number of new infections for the fourth consecutive day.

The country's daily tally exceeded the 80,000 mark for the first time on Friday. As the highly transmissible Omicron variant becomes dominant, the national figure has more than tripled in just two weeks.

And the effects of the spike are being felt by local authorities. The western city of Osaka is struggling to maintain trash collection services.

Officials say more than 100 of their 1,400 sanitation workers are now unable to do their jobs. Many have been deemed close contacts of people already infected and are required to self-isolate for 10 days.

An Osaka city official says they have been struggling to keep enough garbage collectors on the job, but says it's getting tougher.

The government has decided to shorten the isolation period for close contacts.

Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio said, "As the number of infections continues to rise, we need to strike a balance between preventing the spread of the virus and maintaining social and economic activities as much as possible. "

Kishida also said he will shorten the self-isolation period to seven days. And essential workers can resume work from day five after contact if they test negative for the virus.