Japan faces another coronavirus wave - November 2020

[Gert van der Hoek]

Japan logged 1,737 daily new coronavirus cases on Saturday, renewing a record for a third consecutive day, as Tokyo, Osaka and other major cities continued to see high rates of infection.

The latest Kyodo News tally based on data released by local governments followed 1,704 cases on Friday and 1,660 the previous day, in what experts say could be the third wave of the pandemic in the country.



Tokyo reported 352 new coronavirus cases, surpassing 300 for a fourth consecutive day, the first such streak since early August.

Osaka reported 285, a daily record for the densely populated western prefecture, and Chiba Prefecture, which neighbors Tokyo, logged a record 88 cases in a single day.

Other prefectures that saw record cases on Saturday were Ibaraki, Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures.

Despite a resurgence of infections, people in Japan continued to head to popular tourist spots as the country entered the weekend following the two record-breaking days.

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Japan faces another coronavirus wave, but this one’s different

Capital sees record-breaking number of asymptomatic cases and infections among those in their 40s

Another wave of COVID-19 appears to be gathering momentum in Japan, but a high number of asymptomatic cases compared to previous outbreaks and transmissions occurring in households and workplaces are forcing officials to reconsider the way they trace cluster infections and reinforcing the need for comprehensive testing.

Authorities recorded 1,660 new cases of the novel coronavirus on Thursday — beating the previous record of 1,597 infections logged on Aug. 7 — following upticks in Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi, Hyogo, Ibaraki and Osaka prefectures, among others.


“The central government is working with prefectural governors to prevent an explosive increase in new infections,” Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said Friday morning.

Suga insisted that, at that point in time, there was no need for the nation to declare a state of emergency, or for select prefectures to be removed from the Go To Travel campaign, an ongoing government program created to incentivize domestic travel.

COVID-19 was first detected in Japan in January, and the first and second waves peaked in April and July, respectively, according to the health ministry.

Older people in their 70s and 80s accounted for a large share of infections during the first wave, while the second wave consisted mostly of young people in their 20s and 30s — owing to cluster infections that were mostly traced back to bars, night clubs and what officials then referred to as “nightlife destinations.”

The ongoing rise in infections that began in late October, however, resembles an outbreak of an altogether different nature.

“The situation is more complicated now because cluster infections are occurring more broadly across different parts of society and deeper within specific communities,” Koji Wada, a professor at the International University of Health and Welfare, told The Japan Times.

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