Japan tops 10000 coronavirus cases per day

Tokyo: Japan will put four more areas under a state of emergency as daily coronavirus cases top 10,000 for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic.

The decision to extend the highest level of warning from Tokyo to the prefectures of Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba, which are also hosting Olympic events, comes as the Games enter their second week. Japanese Health Minister Norihisa Tamura said on Friday the country faced a deteriorating situation that was “different from anything we have seen before”.

Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said the state of emergency will apply also to the western city of Osaka, effective Monday until August 31. Emergency measures in Tokyo will be extended until the end of August, after the Olympics and into the Paralympics which start August 24.

Hospitals are now filling up across the capital with half of all beds already occupied. The metropolitan government has set up a separate oxygen facility to treat those who are waiting to access critical care.

People pass through a pedestrian bridge in Yokohama, capital of Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. The prefecture is among three to join Tokyo in a state of emergency.Credit:AP

The Japanese government is attempting to convince residents to stay home while the world’s largest sporting event plays out across the nation’s TV screens. COVID cases around the Olympic bubble are rising too with 27 added on Friday, taking the total to 220.

In Tokyo, case numbers have grown by more than 160 per cent over the past week with two-thirds of infections occurring in people aged in their 20s and 30s. National infections reached a high of 10,687 daily cases on Friday.

Australia’s Matt Wearn at Enoshima Yacht Harbour in Fujisawa, Kanagawa, a prefecture about to be added to the state of emergency because of coronavirus.Credit:Getty Images

The chair of the national government’s coronavirus advisory panel, Shigeru Omi, told the Japanese parliament on Thursday the greatest danger now was that the severity of the current situation wasn’t being communicated to the public.

“If that sense of urgency isn’t conveyed sufficiently, the virus will spread further and the burden on the health care system will become increasingly severe,” he said.

Nobuhiko Okabe, the chair of the coronavirus countermeasures panel said if the Olympics started to have a major impact on critical care, the government should consider cancelling them.

“Although it is not at that stage yet, it should consider cancelling the Paralympics next month if the infection continues to spread,” he told Asahi TV.

On Thursday Suga said the Olympics would continue because there was no connection between the infection surge and the Games.

“Since we have imposed virus-curbing measures, such as cutting the flow of people and stricter border controls to prevent the spread of the virus by foreign visitors, I think there is [no link],” he said.

Toru Tamagawa, a pop-culture commentator, told Asahi TV the successful rollout of the vaccine to those aged 65 and over had led to complacency among younger generations. Tamagawa said younger Japanese didn’t have “a sense of crisis” and assumed that “they are safe”.

Only seven people aged under 30 have died from COVID-19 in Japan. In Tokyo, despite cases now doubling each week, the number of serious cases remains below 100.

The statistics, combined with voluntary enforcement measures for the state of emergency have led restaurants and bars to flout restrictions on drinking and gatherings. The state of emergency only gives prefecture governors the power to fine establishments $3000 for breaking regulations and there are no penalties for individuals, meaning many businesses have opted to continue operating.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike on Friday said that the government needed “to come up with measures that are effective”.

Koike has urged young residents to sign up for vaccinations but Japan’s rollout remains beset by supply constraints after older generations were vaccinated in the lead up to the Games.

“Younger people’s activity holds the key and we need your cooperation,” Koike said. “Please make sure to avoid nonessential outings and observe basic anti-infection measures, and I would like younger people to get vaccinated.”

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Eryk Bagshaw is the North Asia correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.

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