Japanese officials sounded alarm Thursday that Tokyo reported cases of coronaviruses records for the third consecutive day with the Olympic Games in progress.
“We have never experienced the expansion of the infections of this magnitude,” said Katsunobu Kato’s secretary of Cabinet with journalists. He added that new cases came not only in the Tokyo area, but also across the country.
Tokyo reported 3,865 new cases Thursday, up from 3,177 Wednesday and double the numbers a week ago, setting a height of all time since the pandemic started early last year.
Japan has maintained its business and deaths lower than many other countries, but its seven-day rolling average increases and is now at 28 people per 100,000 people at the national level and 88 in Tokyo, according to the Ministry of health. This compares to 18.5 in the United States, 48 in Great Britain and 2.8 in India, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
Tokyo has been under his fourth state of emergency since July 12, in front of the Olympic Games, who started last Friday despite a generalized public opposition and worrying that they could aggravate the outbreak.
People always wander in the streets despite home stay requests, which makes the measures largely ineffective at the same time, the more infectious Delta strain is spreading, he said. “We have never seen the infections propagated so quickly.”
Alarmed by the overvoltage of Tokyo, the governors of three prefectures adjacent to the capital stated that he will plan to ask Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to place their regions under the state of emergency too.
Tokyo officials announced Thursday that two foreign Olympic athletes are currently hospitalized and 38 other people are automatically isolate to designated hotels in the city.
GOV. Yuriko Koike urged organizers not to handle Tokyo hospitals.
She stated that the medical system was under severe stress and noted that experts had screened cases in Tokyo could reach 4,500 per day by mid-August.
Japan’s vaccine minister Tararo Kono said in an interview with the associated press on Wednesday that there is no evidence of coronaviruses who spread from Olympic participants to the general public.
“I do not think there have been cases related to the Olympic Games. We are therefore not worried about this question, “he said.
Nationwide, Japan reported more than 9,500 confirmed cases, a new record, Wednesday for a total of about 892,000, with about 15,000 deaths.
Since Wednesday, 26.3% of the Japanese population has been fully vaccinated. The percentage of fully vaccinated seniors is 70%, or 24.8 million people.
