Months after the first domestic cases were reported in Japan, the country has now entered a state of emergency as it struggles to rein in the coronavirus pandemic.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stated that the basic economic activity will continue in Saitama, Kanagawa, Osaka, Chiba, Hyogo, Fukuoka and Tokyo, the seven affected prefectures, with public transport and supermarkets remaining open, but urged people to exercise social distancing and avoid unnecessary trips.
Japan declare state of emergency
The state of emergency will last for approximately one month. The declaration comes as Japan reported 252 new cases of the coronavirus and seven more deaths on April 6, bringing the total number of infections to over 4,600 and 91 deaths.
Prime Minister Abe has faced criticism from the public for not activating emergency measures earlier, as health experts warned that the estimated number of cases could be far higher than the official statistics suggest, this is because of a lack of widespread testing.
Growing concerns
Tokyo, the capital of Japan, is among one of the country's worst-hit areas, and on April 6, the doctors in the city declared a state of medical emergency, citing a possible collapse of the healthcare system. The president of the Tokyo Medical Association, Ozaki Haruo, stated that the rising number of coronavirus cases could result in a shortage of beds and the spreading of the virus within hospitals, according to the NHK.
When this happens, medical staff will not be able to provide services to critically ill patients. Ozaki also stated that the next six weeks will be critical in preventing an explosive spread of the virus.
Japan only has seven intensive care beds for every 100,000 people, and that is a fifth of the proportion available in the US. One part of the problem is that authorities had previously been urging those who have the symptoms to go to the hospital and get checked. This plead had put a strain on the health care system.
Dr. Yoshihiro Takayama, an infectious diseases specialist at Okinawa Chubu Hospital, stated that the authorities are preparing to shift to a new policy of requiring those with mild symptoms to self-isolate at their respective homes instead of going to the hospital in order to not put too much pressure on the health care system.
Takayama expressed his concern about the number of cases that are predicted for Japan, and this is due to the paucity of testing nationwide. Last week, Japan had only conducted 30,000 tests, compared with the 400,000 tests done in South Korea, Japan's neighboring country.
Takayama said that in some cases, the number of patients may be ten times more and he thinks it is necessary to use the imagination and prepare the medical system to deal with it. Takayama stresses that the battle has only begun.
Japan is facing a potential shortage of ventilators for the worst affected. As of February, Japan was estimated to have more than 22,000 ventilators, for a population of 126 million. Around 40% of those ventilators are already being used, as government officials scramble to ramp up the production of the machines and source new ones from other countries.
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