The number of new coronavirus infections in Japan continues to rise in some areas, after the country's spring holiday period came to an end.

Officials reported almost 46,000 new infection cases on Wednesday. That is up by over 19,000 from the same day last week. The southern prefectures of Okinawa and Miyazaki reported record high daily cases.

There were 4,700 new infections confirmed in Tokyo. The tally has risen week-on-week for five days in a row in the capital.

Japan's coronavirus advisory panel says the trend of new infections is now almost flat. Before the holiday period, it was trending down.