TOKYO — Following the emergence of the coronavirus’s omicron variant, Japan has enforced border control measures which in principle ban new entries by foreign nationals. Now, people separated from their families are calling on the government to attend to cases on humanitarian grounds while also taking thorough safety measures to prevent infection.
NARITA, Chiba — As foreign Olympic delegations arrive in Japan one after another ahead of the games’ opening on July 23, a “bubble system” to separate them from outside parties to prevent the spread of the coronavirus is showing its own limits, with some athletes coming close to general travelers at an airport and fans asking for autographs from delegates.
TOKYO — Experts believe that Tokyo is experiencing a COVID-19 rebound as the number of new coronavirus cases has continued to increase for three straight weeks when compared on a week-by-week basis.
TOKYO — The Japanese government decided on June 29 that it will stop accepting new applications for workplace COVID-19 vaccinations as there are no prospects of obtaining further supplies of the Moderna vaccine.
TOKYO — The Mainichi Shimbun reported in May how doctors at a metropolitan government-run hospital designated for infectious disease care had been forced to work overtime far above the “death by overwork” recognition threshold (an average of 80 hours a month over multiple months) to respond to COVID-19 patients.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense began taking online reservations for large-scale coronavirus vaccinations for elderly residents in Tokyo and Osaka Prefecture on May 17, ahead of the opening of two mass inoculation centers in those areas on May 24.
Japan’s border controls to head off the coronavirus spread have been labelled “too lax” by some online. In this first in a three-part series, a Mainichi Shimbun reporter describes his experience returning to Japan in March with his wife and 2-year-old son from Switzerland, a country designated as one where new virus strains are reportedly spreading.
The spread of variant COVID-19 strains shows no signs of abating in Japan, with the number of people infected with the mutant strains totaling 549 by March 23, or 649 if airport testing is included, according to a tally released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on March 24.
TOKYO — While Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga was announcing on March 3 that he intended to extend the state of emergency declaration in effect in Tokyo and three other prefectures in the capital sphere by two weeks, the government’s coronavirus expert advisory board was meeting at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
TOKYO — The Japanese government has begun preparations to host the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer without accepting overseas spectators.
TOKYO — More than 60% of patients found to be infected with the novel coronavirus while in psychiatric hospitals in Japan could not be transferred to other medical facilities designated for COVID-19 cases, as general hospitals apparently tend to refuse them due to the perception that they are difficult to deal with, a survey has revealed.
Tokyo Medical and Dental University announced Jan. 29 that three of its hospitalized patients have contracted new strains of the coronavirus which originated overseas and whose community transmission had not been seen before in the country.
TOKYO — As the recent ratio of COVID-19 patients with severe symptoms has dropped compared to the first wave of infections between March and May, some media and internet users have suggested that the virus is weakening. But experts in Japan say that there is scant evidence of this, and are warning people not to let their guard down.
TOKYO — A hospital in the capital has once again set aside beds normally used by regular inpatients for those infected with the COVID-19 virus in response to instructions by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government following a resurgence of infections.
