The number of consultations from people facing financial difficulties in Japan more than doubled in the first half of fiscal 2021 from the prepandemic level in 2019, according to preliminary data compiled by the welfare ministry.

The sharp increase in the April-September period apparently reflects rising numbers of consultations from those who lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts amid a fifth wave of coronavirus infections this past summer.

Welfare offices designated by about 900 municipalities across the country received a total of 307,072 consultations in the given period, up from 124,439 in the corresponding period in 2019, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.