Health experts put Tokyo on highest coronavirus alert

Health experts put Tokyo on the highest alert for coronavirus infections on Wednesday, alarmed by a recent spike in cases to record levels, while the governor of the Japanese capital said the situation was “rather severe”, Reuters reports.

The resurgence of the virus in Tokyo could add to the growing pressure on policymakers to shore up the world’s No.3 economy, which analysts say is set to shrink at its fastest pace in decades this fiscal year due to the pandemic.

“It is a fact that the number of patients is going up quite a bit and exceeding peaks,” said Norio Ohmagari, director of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine Hospital, noting that the infection rate in Tokyo was at stage “red” - the highest of four levels in the metropolis’ system. 

Infections among young people and asymptomatic cases are rising, Ohmagari said at a meeting with Tokyo officials.

Governor Yuriko Koike repeated her calls for Tokyo residents to be vigilant, saying: “My understanding is that we’re in a rather severe situation now.”

The Tokyo government will respond accordingly to the expert views, Koike said, ahead of a media conference later in the day.

Fearing a second wave of infections spreading from the capital, local municipalities and opposition lawmakers also urged the central government to suspend a major “Go To” travel aid campaign that aims to boost domestic tourism.

Leaders of some rural towns say that driven by the campaign, travel in and out of high-risk regions like Tokyo may lead to widespread community transmissions.

The pandemic in Japan will turn into a “man-made” disaster should the travel programme go ahead, Soichiro Miyashita, mayor of the city of Mutsu in Aomori Prefecture, has cautioned.

In Tokyo, daily virus cases exceeded 200 in four of the past seven days, touching an all-time high of 243 last Friday as testing among nightclub workers in its red-light districts showed rising infections among people in their 20s and 30s.

News.Az 


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