TOKYO, Aug 14 (NNN-NHK) – Japan’s daily COVID-19 cases topped 20,000 yesterday, the first time since the pandemic began, with a record high of 5,773 new infections confirmed in Tokyo, according to the Japanese government data.
It is the second time the figure of infections for Tokyo has topped 5,000. The new cases in Tokyo surpassed the previous high of 5,042 logged a week earlier.
The number of severe cases in Tokyo rose to a new record of 227 from the previous high of 218, logged earlier in the week. The seven-day rolling average of infections for Tokyo also increased to 4,155.7 per day, rising 8.8 percent from the previous week.
Japan’s number of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms also rose to the highest-ever 1,478, nationwide as of Thursday, exceeding the previous record of 1,413 recorded in late May, the health ministry said.
The recent surge meets with the height of the summer holiday season. Tokyo’s governor is calling on residents not to travel to other prefectures.
“We are now facing the biggest crisis since the pandemic began, which amounts to a disaster. We want to ask all to protect their lives,” said Tokyo Governor, Yuriko Koike.
Since mid-July, severe cases of COVID-19 patients have increased rapidly across Japan.
Due to the slow progress of the country’s vaccination campaign, such severe cases have risen among those in their 40s and 50s, mainly in Tokyo, and among patients, young generations have also been found with serious symptoms, which are defined as those with demand of assistance by ventilators, artificial heart-lung bypass devices or treatment at intensive care units.
Tokyo’s health-care system is under increasing strain, with an occupied rate of the capital’s hospital beds allocated for seriously ill COVID-19 patients over 50 percent.
Haruo Ozaki, president of the Tokyo Medical Association, said, “Japan is now in a disaster-level situation. We are no longer in a phase where it’s thought that the disease only affects those who go out and about, at night.”– NNN-NHK
