This file photo taken on May 16, 2019 shows the NTT Docomo logo. (Mainichi Yukiko Murata)

TOKYO -- A woman in her 20s at NTT Docomo Inc.'s call center in the Japanese capital is the ninth worker there to be confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government said on March 19.

The call center had already seen eight employees infected with the virus by March 18, according to NTT Docomo. The metro government is investigating the cases as a possible coronavirus cluster.

The woman is one of seven newly confirmed cases -- men and women aged from their 20s to their 80s -- announced by Metro Tokyo on March 19. One of them, a man in his 80s, is reported to be in serious condition.

The latest cases have brought the total number of infections in the capital to 118.

(Japanese original by Koichi Uchida, City News Department)