Japan's government is considering changes to its current system for reporting coronavirus cases.

Officials confirmed 343 deaths on Tuesday. That's up over 20 from the previous high, recorded in February.

The nationwide total of new cases stood at around 208,000. The figure has been steadily climbing over the past month.

Health ministry officials are now considering whether to revise the national reporting system to help ease the burden on medical workers.

Health Minister Kato Katsunobu said, "We are trying to figure out how to reduce the administrative burden on medical institutions and public health centers."

The current system requires medical staff to classify cases in dozens of categories.

Some doctors say the process routinely takes them several hours to complete.

The officials say they may start narrowing the count to specific groups, such as the elderly and those at risk of developing serious symptoms.

They plan to continue tracking the overall number of cases.

The government says it will announce specific measures regarding the policy once it works out the final details.