India and Japan wrestle with new COVID waves driven by variants

Mutations hit Asia hard and fast, casting Tokyo Olympics in uncertainty

There are fears that a COVID-19 variant may have helped fuel the exponential rise in India's COVID-19 cases, which are overwhelming the nation's vaccination efforts. (Source photos by Reuters and National Institute of Infectious Diseases/Kyodo)

AKANE OKUTSU, KIRAN SHARMA, CLIFF VENZON and APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT, Nikkei staff writers

April 21, 2021 16:54 JST

TOKYO/NEW DELHI/MANILA/BANGKOK -- Asian countries are scrambling to counter new COVID-19 surges driven by faster spreading variants as these nations make slow progress in vaccinating their populations.

India on Wednesday reported another record number of new daily infections, 295,041, topping 200,000 cases for a seventh consecutive day and pushing the country's total to 15.6 million.