Nineteen more people have contracted dengue fever, following the first confirmed cases of domestic infection in Japan since 1945, health officials confirmed.
Monday's report brought the total to 22 people and none of them had recently travelled abroad. But all of them recently spent time in Yoyogi Park in central Tokyo and are believed to have been bitten there by mosquitoes bearing the virus. The disease is not transmitted directly from person to person.
None of the affected residents are in serious condition, the officials said.
The Tokyo metropolitan government sprayed insecticides in areas of the park last Thursday in an effort to eradicate mosquitoes.
Last week a teenage girl became the first person to contract the fever in Japan in nearly 70 years. Infection has been also confirmed in two others, both in their 20s.
Around 200 Japanese are infected with the disease annually while travelling abroad, the ministry said.
Dengue causes a flu-like illness, including headaches, fever and joint pains, according to the UN's World Health Organization. There is no cure.
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