The number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms across the country totaled 1,521 as of Friday, up 43 from the previous day and hitting a record high for the second straight day, the health ministry said.
In Tokyo, daily coronavirus cases totaled 5,094 on Saturday, the metropolitan government said, after it reported a record 5,773 new infections Friday.
The capital’s seven-day rolling average of infections has risen to 4,231.1 per day, up 8.7 percent from the previous week.
A total of 12 out of the nation’s 47 prefectures reported record daily infections, including 2,356 in Kanagawa and 1,828 in Osaka.
With the novel coronavirus spreading rapidly and showing no signs of abating, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga plans to hold talks with relevant ministers next week on expanding the state of emergency, which has been issued in Tokyo, Chiba, Kanagawa, Saitama, Osaka and Okinawa prefectures.
The alarming rise in infection cases due to the spread of the virus’s highly contagious Delta variant has raised concern about a possible collapse of the country’s medical system as patients fill up hospital beds in many prefectures.
Japan is now in dire straits - infections are increasing exponentially …
Pressure has been growing on the central government to expand the state of emergency that currently covers Tokyo, Osaka and some other prefectures.
The alarming rise in infections has come amid the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the virus. Designated hospital beds in many prefectures are fully occupied.
Infectious disease experts have called for foot traffic in Tokyo to be cut by half from the level in early July, prior to the imposition of the current state of emergency in the capital, through measures such as limiting the number of visitors to underground food sections in department stores and shopping malls.
The government will expand the state of emergency curbs to the prefectures of Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Shizuoka, Kyoto, Hyogo and Fukuoka, the public broadcaster said.
It will also expand less strict “quasi-emergency” measures to four additional prefectures - Miyagi, Yamanashi, Toyama and Gifu - to cover more regions of the country, Jiji news agency reported.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters earlier on Monday that the government will seek the view of experts on emergency and less strict “quasi-emergency” curbs for all regions on Tuesday, without giving more details.
Though the Japanese government has instituted repeated states of emergency, their effectiveness has been limited due to laws mandating that the government can only request cooperation.
Pandemic fatigue and summer vacations have also been blamed for contributing to the latest COVID-19 surge in a nation where only around 36% of people have been fully vaccinated.to extend COVID-19 state of emergency lockdown to Sept. 12 - NHK
… and this is on top of the flooding:
Japan’s support services must be stretched to the limit …
