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As Japan's fifth COVID-19 wave wanes, officials warn against complacency

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  • As Japan's fifth COVID-19 wave wanes, officials warn against complacency

    Source: https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...op-fifth-wave/

    As Japan's fifth COVID-19 wave wanes, officials warn against complaency
    by Tomohiro Osaki
    Sep 26, 2021

    A delta-driven surge in COVID-19 cases is coming to a faster-than-expected end in Japan, but experts warn another wave of infections may be just around the corner.

    The country's fifth wave was the most explosive yet and wreaked havoc on the nation’s health care system.

    But the surge has subsided significantly since its mid-August peak. Health ministry data shows there were 2,661 new cases confirmed nationwide on Saturday, a dramatic drop from the middle of last month when the daily tally routinely topped 20,000 and peaked over 25,000.

    Health minister Norihisa Tamura said on a Sunday TV program that he thinks it will be possible to lift the state of emergency imposed on 19 prefectures on Oct. 1, although he continued to call on people to avoid activities that put them at high risk of catching the virus.

    The fall in infections can be attributed to a variety of factors, the most prominent of which is the steadfast increase in vaccine uptake, said Koji Wada, a professor of public health at the International University of Health and Welfare in Tokyo.

    Despite a slow start, Japan’s vaccine rollout has progressed rapidly over the past few months. The share of people who have received at least one shot of the vaccine has reached 68%, surpassing Germany's rate of 67% and that of the United States at 63%, according to the latest data compiled by Our World in Data.

    A health ministry advisory panel pointed to other contributing factors, too. Many people, it said, were likely discouraged from going out due to a lengthy period of rainy weather in Tokyo and other parts of the country last month. Others may have been scared enough to change their behavior amid a barrage of grim COVID-19 stories in the news and the dire situation facing front-line health care workers...

    ...The need for vigilance was echoed by Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike, who told reporters on Friday that despite dwindling daily cases, there is nothing optimistic to report when it comes to hospitalizations and the number of severely ill patients.

    The number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Tokyo, for example, was 2,046 as of Wednesday, which Koike said remained significantly higher than in March, when the nation was thought to be safely past a third wave that had flared up in early January and the number reached a low of 1,250.

    Likewise, the number of severely ill patients in Tokyo totaled 146 on Wednesday, nearly the same as the 160 recorded in the throes of the third wave in January, the governor said...
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