Japanese prefecture says deaths at home surge amid 4th COVID-19 wave (updated)
11/05/2021 06:19
(Adds professor comments, vaccination details)
TOKYO, May 11 (Reuters) - Eighteen people have died from the
COVID-19 respiratory disease outside of hospitals in Japan's
Osaka Prefecture, officials said, amid calls for tougher
restrictions on movement to halt a fourth wave of infections
ahead of the Olympics.
All but one of the deaths occurred since March 1 as highly
infectious strains of the virus caused a spike in new cases, the
prefecture reported late on Monday for the first time.
The rise in coronavirus deaths at home is a sign of the
stress Japan's hospital system is under as the country struggles
to bring the latest surge in infections under control, with more
than 96% of Osaka Prefecture's critical care beds occupied.
"Compared to the number of infections, the number of beds
for severe cases is very limited in Japan," said Yasutoshi Kido,
a professor Osaka City University's Graduate School of Medicine.
Hospitals in Osaka are turning away cancer and heart disease
patients to make room for COVID-19 cases, but their ability to
reallocate resources has "almost collapsed," he said.
Japan on Friday extended a state of emergency for much of
the country to try to contain the fourth wave of the pandemic, a
little more than two months from the scheduled start of the
Tokyo Olympics. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MU05Z
The declaration covers Tokyo, Osaka, and four other
prefectures and will last until May 31.
The Games were postponed by a year due to the pandemic and
organisers are pressing ahead with plans to hold the global
sporting showpiece from July 23 despite mounting public
opposition.
Japanese tennis player Kei Nishikori joined compatriot Naomi
Osaka in expressing concern about the Olympic schedule, saying
he feared an outbreak in the Athletes' Village. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2MY02S
VACCINATION ROLLOUT LAGS
Some prefectural governors called for stronger emergency
measures to be put in place nationwide at an online meeting on
Monday, the Kyodo news agency reported.
Japan still lags most wealthy countries in its vaccination
rollout. Just 2.6% of the population has been inoculated,
according to a Reuters tracker, and there are reports that
people are finding it difficult to book shots.
News that the deputy mayor of a city in central Japan had
agreed to prioritise vaccine shots for the chairman of drug
retailer Sugi Holdings Co 7649.T and his wife drew thousands
of angry tweets.
The western region of Osaka has been particularly hard hit,
becoming the epicentre of cases from the variant first
identified in Britain that is more infectious and causes more
serious conditions.
At one nursing home in Osaka, 61 residents were infected and
14 died while waiting to be hospitalised, public broadcaster NHK
reported on Friday.
Osaka Prefecture had 668 new cases on Monday while Tokyo had
573.
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Global vaccination tracker: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/vaccination-rollout-and-access/
Interactive graphic tracking global spread of coronavirus:
https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/
FACTBOX-Latest on global spread of coronavirus
ID:nL8N2AB5TN
FACTBOX-Worldwide coronavirus deaths exceed 3.3 mln
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(Reporting by Rocky Swift and Chang Ran Kim; Editing by Stephen
Coates)
((rocky.swift@thomsonreuters.com;))