TOKYO (AP) – Japan extended its coronavirus emergency on Wednesday for the second week in a row, adding eight more prefectures as rising delta-infected infections strain the country’s healthcare system.
The government last week extended the state of emergency until September 12 and expanded the covered areas to 13 prefectures, from six including Tokyo. With four new prefectures added to an independent “quasi-emergency” state, 33 of Japan’s 47 prefectures are now under some sort of emergency measure.
Eight prefectures went from a quasi-emergency state to a full emergency. They include Hokkaido and Miyagi in the north, Aichi and Gifu in central Japan and Hiroshima and Okayama in the west.
“To protect people’s lives, the priority is to maintain the health care system,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said when announcing the emergency. “To overcome this crisis led by deltaic tension, I seek more cooperation from everyone.”
Japan’s state of emergency depends on requirements for restaurants to close at 8pm and not serve alcohol, but measures are increasingly being challenged. Demands for social distancing and telework inapplicable to the public and their employers are also largely ignored due to growing complacency.
The Japanese capital has been in an emergency since July 12, but new daily cases have increased more than tenfold since then, to about 5,000 in Tokyo and 25,000 nationwide. Hospital beds are filling up quickly and now many people have to recover at home, including some who need extra oxygen.
More than 35,000 patients in Tokyo recover at home, about a third of whom cannot find hospital or hotel vacancies immediately. Only a small percentage of hospitals take patients with viruses, either for economic reasons or because they do not have the capacity to treat infections, according to experts.
Suga said Wednesday that those who recover at home will receive medical attention through phone calls, online or community doctor visits and that the government will establish temporary hospitals where patients can receive supplemental oxygen or other treatment.
Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many other countries, with some 15,600 deaths nationwide since the beginning, but its vaccination efforts are lagging behind other rich nations. About 40% of the population has been completely vaccinated, mostly the elderly.
Economy and Fiscal Policy Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura, also responsible for COVID-19 measures, said on Wednesday that the infections range from those between the ages of 20 and 50 and that they are largely unvaccinated. He urged them to be very careful.
“Imagine you can get infected tomorrow,” he said.
Suga said the government will distribute 800,000 antigen testing kits to kindergartens, primary and secondary schools for rapid detection and isolation of patients when schools reopen after the summer holidays, all promising to speed up vaccinations for teachers.
The increase in infections among schoolchildren and adolescents could accelerate growth as they begin to return to school, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, the government’s chief medical adviser. He proposed that schools restrict activity and urged institutes and institutes to return to online classes.
“Infections in Tokyo show no signs of slowing down and very strict medical systems will continue for some time,” he told a parliamentary session on Wednesday.
The government has been criticized for holding this summer’s Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo despite strong public opposition. Officials deny any direct link between the games and the rise in infections.