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Health experts in Japan said the country was facing a coronavirus “disaster” and urged the government to take immediate action to stem a surge in infections.
The warning came as local media reported that spectators would be banned from nearly all Paralympic Games events, which are scheduled to open on August 24.
The government and the Games organizers will make an official decision next week, Kyodo said, citing unnamed officials. Media reported that sports fans will be denied access to sites in Tokyo and Saitama prefectures, although a limited number may attend events in Shizuoka Prefecture, which does not border Tokyo. The organizers are reportedly considering inviting schoolchildren to venues.
Japan is in the midst of an explosion of infections caused by the highly transmissible variant Delta. It reported more than 18,000 cases on Thursday, surpassing the previous record of 15,812 recorded a day earlier, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Tokyo, which is in a state of emergency targeting the capital’s night-time economy, on Thursday recorded 4,989 cases, the second highest figure since the start of the pandemic. Western Osaka Prefecture reported a record 1,654 infections on the same day.
Health officials are also concerned about the number of people in Tokyo with severe symptoms, which topped 200 for the first time, amid warnings that the city’s hospitals are under further pressure as older people from 40 to 50 years old occupying most of the available beds.
In addition, more than 20,000 people with milder symptoms are urged to stay home, a policy that in the past has resulted in isolated deaths.
“If infections continue to increase at the current rate, we will not be able to save lives that might otherwise be,” said Shigeru Omi, the government’s top adviser on the virus. “It’s already happening. The situation looks like a disaster.
Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga continues to rule out any link between the spike in cases and the Tokyo Olympics, which ended last weekend.
Although athletes and other visitors do not appear to have spread infections outside of the Olympic “bubble”, experts including Omi said the festival atmosphere surrounding the Games had caused people to turn down. keep.
A month-long state of emergency, under which Tokyo restaurants and bars were urged not to serve alcohol and close earlier, has not prevented the upsurge, as more and more establishments choose to ignore the request despite the threat of fines.
Experts said emergency measures should be extended nationwide, adding that attendance in Tokyo should be reduced to half of the level in early July to curb the latest increase in cases.
Omi, who a few weeks ago described the holding of the Olympics during the pandemic as ‘abnormal’, called for widespread testing and urged more medical institutions to support Covid-19 patients who have been told to self-isolate. “Otherwise, we are going to see more tragic cases at home,” he said.
Japan currently vaccinates about a million people a day, but its rollout began several months after Britain and other countries, and has not progressed enough to control the spread of the Delta variant. About 36% of the population of 126 million is fully immunized.
The seven-day moving average of new cases in Japan is 11.2 per 100,000 people, compared with 2.8 in India, 37 in the United States and 41 in Britain, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Experts advising the Tokyo Metropolitan Government have repeated Omi’s alarming description of the latest wave of Covid-19.
“Infections are raging and spiraling out of control,” said Norio Ohmagari, director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. “It’s almost a disaster, a situation where people have no choice but to protect their lives on their own.”
The sons contributed to the report
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