TOKYO, May 15 (NNN-NHK) – The number of patients designated as having severe symptoms, as a result of COVID-19, reached the second-highest ever at 1,209, the health ministry said yesterday.
The latest data, regarding critically ill patients, who typically require hospitalisation and the assistance of ventilators or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines, have more than tripled over the past month, the ministry said recently.
Yesterday’s figure, which stayed above the 1,000-mark since Apr 30, according to the health ministry, is just a fraction below the all-time record high booked on Thursday, at 1,214 severely ill patients.
As well as requesting people in the most affected areas, to work remotely and avoid making unnecessary trips outside or across prefectural borders, other antiviral measures currently in place include, requesting bars, restaurants and karaoke parlours to shutter their operations by 8.00 p.m. and not serve alcohol.
In addition, large spectator venues have now had the number of attendees capped at 5,000 or 50 percent of the venue’s capacity and events must end by 9 p.m.
Japanese nationals and foreign residents arriving from India, Pakistan and Nepal, where highly contagious virus variants have been wreaking havoc, meanwhile, also face stricter protocols upon reentering Japan.
Nationwide, 6,266 new daily infections were confirmed yesterday, with Tokyo and Osaka reporting 854 and 576 new cases respectively.
Japan’s cumulative total of infections since the outbreak of the virus here, has reached 673,109 cases, with the total death toll rising to 11,396, according to the latest figures released last night by local authorities and the health ministry.– NNN-NHK
