The president of the Japan Medical Association, Nakagawa Toshio, expressed deep fear on Wednesday. He said health care systems were on the verge of collapsing in many parts of Japan. He also said that if the number of people inflamed increases rapidly, it will be difficult to balance the care provided to them and the provision of hospital beds to other patients.
The JMA urges prefectural governors to anticipate the scenario by two weeks and expand appropriate plans with the central government.
The University of Tokyo Medical and Dental Hospital has opened 55 beds exclusively for COVID-19 cases. Less than half are occupied.
However, the hospital was forced to start rejecting serious cases. Of the 55 beds, 8 are reserved for patients who need ventilators or ECMO for respiratory and cardiac functions. Seven have been in use lately – the most hospital staff can attend to at the moment. at the same time, as every severe case requires the attention of several doctors and nurses.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government plans to double the total number of beds available for severe cases to 300. But the hospital claims it can now only operate with the existing number, given the length of staff and the fact that other beds are available. patients who want medical care.
“It’s not just about beds for critical patients,” says the hospital’s president, Uchida Shinichi. “Each case also requires specially trained personnel. “
It calls on other hospitals to shoulder the burden and settle for the most severe cases.
On Wednesday, the metropolitan called on bars, restaurants and karaoke rooms in Tokyo’s 23 districts and Tama district to close at 10 p. m. The measure will be in effect for 20 days, from Nov. 28 to Dec. 17, and operators who comply with the request will get up to about $3,800.
This is the third time that the metropolitan government has asked businesses to voluntarily reduce their opening hours. The first time was in April, when a state of emergency was declared; the moment in August, when the number of infections began to rise again.
Tokyo Governor Koike Yuriko said infections will need to prevent the spread while minimizing the impact on economic and social activities. He said Tokyo’s citizens, marketers and directors want to come together to focus on infection prevention measures during this short period of time.
The government’s advisory committee on the coronavirus reaction held a consultation on Wednesday, in which experts put forward a series of proposals for stricter countermeasures.
This includes asking prefectural governments to promptly identify spaces where the infection is spreading and deploy extensive countermeasures there for about three weeks. The experts also suggested that the population refrain from traveling to or from those spaces.
Nishimura Yasutoshi, the minister in charge of coronavirus response, under pressure for the panel to communicate a strong sense of crisis. He said the next three weeks would be about slowing the spread of the virus.
The government says it is balancing measures to prevent infections with the continuation of social and economic activities. It needs to prevent the situation from reaching alert level, which could lead to a new state of emergency.
On Wednesday, more than 1,900 new cases were reported nationwide. More than 138,000 people have tested positive since the outbreak began, and the death toll now exceeds 2,000.