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TOKYO, Aug 25 (Reuters) – Japan’s top medical adviser on Wednesday attacked International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach for revisiting Tokyo at a time when the country is further expanding its emergency limits. in its struggle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan will be established later Wednesday to expand states of emergency to eight more prefectures, bringing the total to 21 regions from northern Hokkaido to the southern island of Okinawa under curbs and covering about 80% of the its population.
The unusually blunt statement from a Japanese official underscores the frustration many feel as the government struggles to control infections. Citizens get tired of life under restrictions and companies ignore repeated requests to promote work from home.
“We had said over and over again” What kind of message will the Olympics send to the public? “Dr. Shigeru Omi, the immunologist who chairs the government’s coronavirus advisory group that approved the emergency plan, said in a parliamentary session.
“We are asking people to work harder from home. If President Bach (IOC) Bach has to deliver a speech (for the Paralympics), why couldn’t he do it remotely? Why should he bother to come? so far? ”Omi said, applauding some lawmakers for their statements.
“That kind of common sense should work in these circumstances,” he said.
Bach attended the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on Tuesday.
Omi and other members of the medical community opposed the holding of the 2020 Games and warned that infections could spread as the public interpreted the holding of the Games as a sign that it was safe enough to perform its normal activities. .
Nomura Research Institute economist Takahide Kiuchi estimated that the latest expansion of the state of emergency would lead to an additional economic loss of about 420 billion yen ($ 3.83 billion), which would lead to the total fall of Japan’s fourth round of emergency sidewalks to 3.84 trillion yen.
He estimated that this would mean an increase of 1.68 trillion yen for the economy from the holding of the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
SHORT HOSPITAL BEDS
Months of emergency sidewalks in the capital, Tokyo and surrounding areas have failed to reverse the rise in infections and about 90% of the city’s critical care beds are occupied.
The state of emergency expansion plan that is expected to be formally approved this evening will add Hokkaido, Aichi, Hiroshima and five more prefectures, from Friday through September 12th.
Four more prefectures are expected to be added to the more limited “almost emerging” measures, bringing the regions under these sidewalks to a total of 12 of Japan’s 47 prefectures.
Restrictions in Japan have been looser than blockades in other countries and have focused on mandates for restaurants to close at eight in the afternoon (11.00 GMT) and stop serving alcohol, and requests for companies have 70% of the staff working from home.
“The working age demographic group is the engine (behind the rise in infections),” said Economy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura
dit. “We need to halve people’s movement.”
He added that infections transmitted by children as new school periods begin were another concern.
With hospital beds filled or almost nearby, many people have been forced to validate at home with some dying before receiving treatment.
“The most important task is to strengthen the medical system,” Nishimura said, adding that securing oxygen stations and nurses, as well as considering the use of antibody cocktails for outpatients, were one of the priorities.
The government reported 21,561 new cases and 30 deaths on Tuesday. Japan’s mortality rate of 1.2% is lower than in the United States and Britain. Deaths have risen during August, but are below the highs earlier this year, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
($ 1 = 109,700 yen)
Chang-Ran Kim Reports; Edited by Jane Wardell and Christian Schmollinger
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