Tokyo, Jan 2 (IANS): Japan has registered a record 7,688 deaths due to Covid in December 2022, surpassing the earlier monthly high of 7,329 logged in August during the previous coronavirus wave, the media reported on Monday.

According to Mainichi Japan, the death toll rose sharply since November with the onset of the eighth wave.

While the severity rate has dropped with the Omicron strain of the coronavirus, the variant's increased transmissibility means that infections have risen by an order of magnitude, the report mentioned.

There are concerns that the Covid infection number will only go up with the New Year festivities.

The number of people dying from Covid-19 over the last three months in Japan is nearly 16 times higher than during the same period last year.

Over the four-month period from August 31 to December 27 this year, people in their 80s represented 40.8 per cent of the deaths.

"Those in their 90s and above accounted for 34.7 per cent, and those in their 70s made up another 17 per cent. In total, people in these three age brackets accounted for 92.4 per cent of the fatalities," the report mentioned.

Japan on Sunday reported 247 Covid deaths.