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© KYODOHokkaido declares state of emergency again; 166 new coronavirus cases in Tokyo
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Mark
This government and it's health ministry are as SLOW as a turtle, and when Covit 19 hits in the face, just roll over on the back and die.
Akie
Everything is under control, so far.
Kobe White Bar Owner
166 new cases in Tokyo? I find it hard to believe, more cooking the books? Could this be a glimmer of hope for the capital? going by how this has been dealt with I expect the worse is still to come, happy to be wrong! Stay home save live protect yourselves and the ones you love.
William77
This is truly become a “teatrino” a farce.
The central government is incapable to order a firm law to prevent this pandemic and so the local governments are all struggling by the events.
Anyway their narrative to be a safe and “perfect” county around the world is already blown because in the west now we all know that this delay and silence was all due to save the olympics,so how about do something concrete and and help concretely common people living in Japan?
TheRat
And the fact is folks, the lockdown will never end until there is a vaccine. Which could take two years, OR never, read URL, which states the virus can re-activate itself, so no immunity (vaccine) works. So like HIV, you need an expensive cocktail to deal with it, only the rich need apply. https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/coronavirus/article241923651.html?fbclid=IwAR32gOT1xY_Zpaou_KcehZzX8o-ruoZD6jaw7PVZbbgVFvciY1lGREZT-HM
Dango bong
why signs in English? makes no sense
thepersoniamnow
Just like all other new viruses, the inly thing that will stop it is herd immunity. Isnt that why we arent all getting SARS anymore? Of course the lockdown will end.
lordoflys
My son in Sapporo says that most everything is business as usual. Everything is open. I'm puzzled. How can you declare an emergency and yet take no action? And yet I am also puzzled why some areas (NY) break out like measles at a boy scout jamboree while Japanese, for some reason, seem to have at least some immunity of the disease. I base this purely on observation. Any thoughts?
Ken
Dango,
The signs are in English because it is presumed that gaijin are the primary carriers of the virus and do not heed to the requests to staying home.
Mirai Hayashi
Who could have seen this coming?
Um....everyone. Tokyo partially closing lead to people fleeing and spreading the disease even further. The whole country needs to be under a state of emergency and stricter policies should be put in place as to what businesses can and cannot operate under this state. Allowing Izakayas to stay open, and people to roam the streets freely makes is easier for this virus to spread. Something needs to be done NOW, or Tokyo and other high population areas will become the next NYC
rainyday
This is about as convincing as Han Solo dressed up as a stormtrooper saying the same thing.
Disillusioned
When will the J-Gov realise their passive approach is not working? Another 166 cases in Tokyo is proof of this.
Aly Rustom
with the numbers rising like they are, are they really INSANE enough to open the schools after golden week?? I really hope not..
Alexandre T. Ishii
Recall 10 days or couple of weeks ago, it comes from there. Big gap to see desert ghost towns on tv and infected numbers at most.
runner3
A few weeks ago I was posting for people to stay home, social distancing, and hand washing. I got nothing but flack from people on this site saying I was too negative. Everyone in Japan has smart phones can't they see what's been happening all around the world! It's not too late to slow the virus down in Japan if you just "STAY HOME".
Guy Gin and tonic
“Everything is under control, so far.”
That’s so good to hear, Mr President.
Guy Gin and tonic
“Assess the facts calmly folks. This is not going to wipe out school kids if we re-open schools.”
Nooooo, just their grandparents and some of their teachers. That’s me assessing the facts calmly, mate.
runner3
Akie, exactly how are things under control? You understand things are going to get very bad in Japan if people don't listen and stay home!
thepersoniamnow
Yeah theres a lot of people who wanna freak out about whats going on and cant see the factual positives.
They are that way (couch critics) about all news in general though.
Guy Gin and tonic
“The signs are in English because it is presumed that gaijin are the primary carriers of the virus and do not heed to the requests to staying home.”
Occam’s Razor suggests that it might just be because they want to reach a wider audience, ne?
kurisupisu
The city with the most infected is Tokyo which sorely needs to be locked down for several weeks!
Fuzzy
@TheRat
The likelihood is we'll need a series of lockdown type of periods until herd immunity is achieved (with or without a vaccine). The reactivating thing is alarming, but also still not fully confirmed. Testing errors could be one explanation. Also, I believe it is only in a certain percentage of people, not everyone. This would also mean the vaccine would not work in those people. I don't think there is any suggestion the deactivation is a concern for everyone.
@thepersoniamnow
SARS was effectively contained and essentially eradicated. There was no herd immunity for SARS. SARS was far less infectious than COVID. Herd immunity, or finding effective treatments, is looking like the only solution for COVID. Both of those things are going to take time. It seems most likely we'll need a series of lockdowns until such time with the goal being to enable people to get on with life as much as possible, while making sure the health systems are not overwhelmed.
didou
@marcelito
Yes, but the downtrend is high on Monday over the past 5 weeks due to the weekend. It starts to slowly increase again from Tuesday but from Wednesday, that’s when we see clearly if it gonna be high or not,
Today Monday should be a low number comparatively
simon g
In years to come Japan will be a case study of how "Japanese" traits of group decision making and top down management contributed to a higher and longer crisis than other countries where leaders made couragous decisions and put their necks on the political line. This "not wanting to stick out thing" that Japan celebrates so well is killing people. Someone step up to the plate and tell Abe and Yasutoshi Nishimura to sit down, have a coke and shut the heck up. Please!
didou
Tha chance to get the virus in a shop or the train is I believe really low.
Confined spaces where people talk and scream a lot, live houses, bars , restaurants, majong placés, are thé one at risk. There is not more risk in a cloth shop than in a supermarket, so closing cloth shops or book shops for exemple is a non sense,
It just makes sense for governors as people will go less out and gather
Kobe White Bar Owner
@marcelitoToday 07:51 am JST
166 new cases in Tokyo? I find it hard to believe, more cooking the books?
Its because yesterday was Sunday mate....l
Marcelito, yep your spot on! Don’t I need a coffee or 6.
cornbread1
I hope countries like the US, who is already talking about re-opening, take notice.
Objective
Hokkaido has handled this well from the start. They were the first prefecture hit hard by Covid in February and they acted independently and swiftly to reduce social interaction with the limited powers they had. That first wave settled without much disruption to daily life. Unfortunately tourism is such a big driver in the local economy here that related businesses suffered greatly. But restaurants, Susukino, pachinko parlors and onsens have remained opened for two months after that first wave and there was no significant growth in cases until recently.
You can clearly sense the caution in the majority of the public at shops, restaurants, and in transit. Most of the Japanese clearly understand the problem and what they have to do. Navigating the landscape here is more challenging than in other countries due to many social differences, with work being a big one. The personal freedoms under the constitution another factor. From reading these boards there tends to be a lot of unnecessary virtue signalling.
The numbers of new cases in Hokkaido from the past few days are not incredibly high and it is possible they won't grow exponentially if the public does what they did in February. Testing is lacking compared to other countries but we don't hear of hospital shortages in Sapporo, at least. Viruses tend to create these huge clusters that put strains on health care systems in particular locations. From what I am reading in the USA hospitals are either strained or not busy at all (since they had to postpone non-life threatening surgeries in preparation for the outbreak)
Maintaining a functional economy during a pandemic is tough but some countries are doing there best based on no historical experiences.
gogogo
Tokyo is going to be the next New York, look at the daily increase! Pray for Tokyo.... Abe this is on you!
secretsquirrel
@Akie. Everything is under control - yes you are correct. Big business is staying open, still getting tax perks at expense of others. And J gov will secure votes for next election.
@Burning Bush school children are safe from virus but what about their grandparents ?
This is a horse race to beat the virus. All countries taking part.
why is the Japanese horse wearing blinkers ?
Pukey2
All I seem to be hearing are words like urge, refrain, ask, request, overshoot, etc.
garypen
It will take a few more celebrity deaths to wake these people up.
They don't seem to respond very much to anything else.
Tamarama
They have been telling sick people to stay home and wait for symptoms to get worse before coming in to get tested for some time. That has to cook the books on numbers a little doesn't it?
Dango bong
Yeah the 4 gaijin in Hokkaido. You are making signs in English for less than 2% of the population that is just stupid
8T
BS
JJ Jetplane
@lordoflys
Immunity among people ranges which is true. What I believe is the biggest difference between Japan and NY is that when NY declared testing would be free, it was open to everyone and almost everyone was tested regardless of severity. In Japan, the only cases that are reported are cases that are in critical condition because Japan will refuse testing unless you are in critical condition. That is the biggest difference. Evidence of this is my personal experience going through and still going through this battle in Japan. I have asthma and pneumonia and I've been using a ventilator at the hospital but I'm still not considered severe enough to test. According to the hospital.
kohakuebisu
This is a pertinent observation and its bizarre that Japan could go from January to mid-March with packed bars and subway trains with only a gradual rise in cases. It looks like we are going exponential now, and yes I am in favour of lockdown, but the time taken for the disease to take hold in Japan is a mystery worth commenting on. It's not just a "lack of testing", because people haven't been becoming seriously unwell or dying. On a Channel 4 video the other day, a doctor in the UK described how he had many under 50s on ventilators. Testing or no testing, that is something society at large is going to notice. It may just be luck, but this has thankfully not happened (yet) in Japan.
Not necessarily, my local authority used "休業" when PM Abe asked the schools to close. However, for us "休業" now means reduced classes. Japanese parents around me can't understand why the kids are still going to school a couple of half days a week. Apparently closed schools in local bureaucratspeak is 休校
ShinCebu
Money is all what this government is really concerned of.
tooheysnew
In Chiba, We’ve tried to do the right thing & closed our cafe for a month.
however, the thinking among some of our fellow cafe-owners & restauranteurs is that ‘お客様のために営業します’
and the customers, they visit these establishments because ‘お店を応援するために行きます.
with thinking like this, things ain’t gonna get better soon
Puff_the_Magic
Yes, read the URL, especially this part:
daito_hak
No no you are confusing few things here. There is absolutely not evidence that the spread of the virus in Japan is not happening, in fact Japan refuses until today to mass test, so we simply don't know the real situation. As of April 11, Japan is still doing only 594 tests per million people, in Tokyo 418 tests / million people. This is very low, US is doing 8,598 tests / million people, the state of New York 23,728 tests / million people, Germany 15,850 tests / million people, Switzerland 22,613 tests / million people. Japan testing is a joke. So it's really not surprising to see fewer cases in Japan (or I should say a slower infection rate)), nothing to do with immunity. The Japanese population is a naive to the virus as any other population on the world so the virus will spread as easily.
However the real question is why some countries are seeing en explosion of infected people who develop a serious condition which needs to be taken care in intensive care units. Such explosion is not seen in many countries, not only in some countries in Asia like Japan but also elsewhere. The health condition of the population seems to play an important role (obesity is now believed to be big factor of risk, France reported last week that 83% of the people in intensive cases are overweight), possibly genetical factors, populations who took vaccins against tuberculosis are also observed to be less sensitive to the virus. Right now this is all hypothesis.
Blacklabel
yes, its puzzling what happened to those people who caught coronavirus last December or January.
They didnt die, they arent still sick or hospitalized, they didnt get any special care or coronavirus specific treatment drugs. If we could find out what happened to those people and how they recovered, that would be really helpful.
Raw Beer
Bringing down the infection rate too low will only delay the onset of herd immunity. So I'm quite pleased with the numbers in Japan.
It might take two years before people start to get vaccinated, and longer to get most of the population vaccinated. Should we be locked down until then?
Fuzzy
@Raw Beer
The simple answer is no. If you're interested in the longer answer this is a great article:
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-the-hammer-and-the-dance-be9337092b56
Basically, we'll need to alternate between strict social distancing and more relaxed social distancing.
Stev
Japan should declared emergency now for good.
therougou
Yeh, in addition another thing mentioned on TV yesterday was was the difference in healthcare systems. Japanese aren't given the test but they seek healthcare early on, which may help treat the symptoms before they get worse. Most Japanese can't tell the difference between a regular cold and something like strep throat (in fact, the definition for 風邪 (kaze) includes bacterial infections unlike the English word "cold"), so they just go to the doctor for everything.
therougou
I think the plan was to allow a certain level of infection but then they started saying the healthcare industry will collapse, so they had to take action. Some were debating this on TV yesterday though, because it isn't clear how many infected are simply showing light symptoms vs those in critical condition actually requiring a hospital bed.
mariasjapan
State of emergency cannot be declared for good....but no vaccine, no normalcy!
@Akie...''Everything is under control".....what???
kazetsukai
Obviously there is a need to be included to get the "benefits" for their constituents and businesses from the central government. What ever extras that any of the Prefectures can get help in the recovery. But then one must always remember that any such benefits received are being paid for in one form or another by us the entire population that work and do not work.
However, effort put in by the people of Hokkaido to contain the spread is admirable. I certainly wish the best for their full control of their epidemic and return to the what ever normal they can establish for their future.
Rosalind Harris
Here in Hakodate, it's been really quiet since they issued the original state of emergency. No more tourists, most people staying home outside of work, everyone wearing masks and using hand sanitiser. It's probably a good thing (for once) that we don't have a lot of public transport as most people go to work by car, bicycle, or on foot.
The busiest it's been recently was when schools started again, and suddenly everyone started going outside again. I hope this second SOE will nip that in the bud.
wtfjapan
This is not going to wipe out school kids if we re-open schools.
no if its mismanaged it'll turn into another Italy or USA, why are so many blinded by the fact that trying to justify opening the economy back to full capacity is going to increase the spread dramatically, more people infected more people will die, this is no the flu , its far more contagious and there is no vaccine for coronavirus, coronavirus is far more dangerous than the flu. Stated by almost all the world's leading infectious disease experts
mikeylikesit
There may be a few reasons. One recent study found a correlation between countries that require the tuberculosis vaccine and lower rates of coronavirus infection. Why? They're not sure. But TB vaccines are standard in Japan.
Another recent survey of severe cases requiring hospitalization in New York found that an overwhelming majority of the patients were obese. Japanese people, on the whole, are not tubs of lard. Obesity is associated with weakened innate immune systems, so it makes sense that obese populations would be hit harder.
Maybe, too, there are cultural differences. Japanese people don't shake hands. That's a major disease pathway. There may be other such differences, too.
Or maybe the response of Japan's government and Japan's people hasn't been as inept and slow as people like to complain about. For all the accusations in comments about Japan cooking the numbers, Japan's hospitals haven't overflowed like elsewhere in the world, and it's hard to hide deaths.
Jonathan Prin
My return with facts: overweight people have far higher chances to die. Same if you have comorbidity factors. Ahe also plays a major role and that's were it stings.
How on Earth with the oldest population on Earth can Japan prevent the increasing death rate of their eldest ?
It is not lile their immune system is up and perfect, because Coronavirus spreads if aweaken immune system.
As if out of 120 deaths in Japan, Ken Shimura being in those demises, statistically there would be no chance for this to happen.
I assume at least many old people are dying but comparison with last year death rate is not done.
Take my word like I did show with the Olympics, when from the 26th or 27 th March, slope of the new infected cases graphic magically become higher.
If you can hide the reason for death and the comparison with previous years records, you can't change much the result of a test.
mikeylikesit
These are the same experts who, in January, were telling us everything was fine, that coronavirus was not a major worry, and that all the cases were only animal-to-human transmission? Yeah, about that...
Or the same experts whose U.S. death toll models for this year have been revised downward from 200,000 to about 60,000, which is on par with a bad flu season, and which would be fewer deaths than the swine flu inflicted a few years ago.
Or are you talking about the WHO head, an expert who was handpicked by China and helped China cover up the extent of the outbreak in the Wuhan area in December and early January?
Experts exist in their own small bubbles. They know a lot within that bubble, but very little outside of it. They are wrong more often than they are right. Policy makers need to gather data from experts, but a world run by experts would be a disaster. Their recommendations and predictions for the Wuhan coronavirus have been all over the map, and had all world leaders followed their advice early on, the pandemic would likely be worse now than it is.
smithinjapan
"Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido issued a further declaration of a state of emergency on Sunday..."
A VOLUNTARY state, we need to qualify...
"...following one issued previously in late February, after seeing the pace of coronavirus infections picking up."
Geez, ya think? I'm sorry governments here put the economy over health, as in the US and some other nations, and can't understand they are destroying both in the process. I love the feigned shock and "How could this happen?" responses you hear so often. "How is it that we've sent this warning to people but they are still going out as normal?" Tokyo asks, as they admit there are no consequences for not following the "suggestions".
8T
I have lived in Japan for a long time and when I first arrived I thought this country was a very high technology place. As I stay and watch people I have come to the conclusion the Japanese system of life is all about living in the dark ages. Japanese resist change and this has hurt their economy, lifestyle and future.
Ah_so
Back in December and January there were far fewer infected, so there were not enough deaths to be statistically meaningful.
Ah_so
Burning Bush - the reasons that Germany has a low rate of recorded death is because of its high rate of testing - it identifies far more people who have contacted it. In countries that haven't done a lot of testing, like the UK, the death rate is high - well over ten percent. This is because a lot of infections are not picked up. You can compare the testing rates here:
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries
And I have no evidence about how different countries are recording deaths, but given that coronavirus is a major contributory factor in deaths, it would be bizarre not to include it in the figures. By your way of defining things, there would have been not a single death ever attributable to AIDS - victims die of mundane diseases.
The chances are that if you die and have coronavirus, it was the cause. In a handful of cases it might have been a coincidence.
TARA TAN KITAOKA
I wish all hokkaidians the best because suzuki governor had been most honest from the start.
rgcivilian1
Good luck to the people of Hokaido who have to put up with all the ignorant who don't understand what Stay Home means. Also where are the promised non China masks promised that were supposed to be made here in Japan? From what I gather many prefectures outside Tokyo are not getting any stock at all especially from the Aomori Prefecture in towns like Towada, Hachinohe, Misawa City, Mutsu, Aomori. Seems like these towns are not important as their stock was depleted back in January and sent to China.
ペルソンペル
I am Swedish and Sweden's tactic is to achieve the immunity of citizens at the rate that healthcare can manage. It seems to be Japan's tactic too. Only in the future can we determine if it was right.
WilliB
The Rat:
Can I add this to my growing list of failed outlandish predictions from this readers forum? The file keeps growing and growing...
Luddite
@ JJ Jetplane. If you are on a ventilator you are also in an induced coma.
drlucifer
This is the statement of the day.
They seek healthcare early on. Really? When it is well known that they go to work when they have a cold or flu. So what are the treatment for the virus symptoms ? How is a treatment decided without a pcr test or diagnosis.
Alot of reason have been given for the low infection rate in Japan and all of them are not backed with any data such as they were mask, the koreans wear as well, they don't shake hands and hug, the koreans as well, BCG, most countries in the world took the shot, the medical system is good, the German medical system is superior than that of Japan yet the death rate is higher than that of Japan. The low number of test and lack of data on the number of deaths from pneumonia for this year and other diseases has only helped fuel suspicion.
drlucifer
Kohakuebisu,
How is society going to notice?
There are 100 to 120 thousand pneumonia deaths a year in Japan which averages to 300 deaths a day
So you think the public will take note if there is an additional 50 pneumonia deaths per day.? I don't think so.
The ferocity with which this virus has attacked Europe and the U.S clearly shows that the china numbers are grossly under reported.
Cognac
saturday 191, suday 166
exponential spreading, indeed
Cognac
you are right, in Italy actually I heard around 130 people died FOR corona virus and not ALSO for corona virus.
you are the only one here who talks clearly and not as "my god the world will end soon" or "staaay hooooom"
and to confirm my words, just check the number of undervote you take, it's a shame
Guy Gin and tonic
It will take a few more celebrity deaths to wake these people up.
They don't seem to respond very much to anything else.
Garypen, who are “these people” you refer to? Not the whole population of Japan, surely? That would make you rrrrr...eally in need of a more nuanced set of pronouns. There are plenty of Japanese who’d be pretty angry at the response of some of their fellow citizens, though, I’d be willing to bet. My wife, for one.
Tey Dela Cruz
Asking. Recommending. Urging. Strongly urging. All without any consequences if you choose to ignore. If you truly care and want to stop this, grow a pair and issue MANDATORY orders with consequences.
JJ Jetplane
@luddite
I openly invite you to come visit me in Yuoukai hospital in Osaka.
Luddite
@ JJ Jetplane. No matter what you claim, you cannot be on a ventilator and conscious. It’s impossible. Next time you are there, ask the nurse the name of the machine. Probably a CPAP.
Tora
On the news last night that Saitama worried that hospitals will be inundated so they have tightened up testing criteria even more! 14 per million people tested in Saitama - one of the lowest in Japan!
All these numbers they release each day are therefore completely meaningless.
Tora
@kohakuebisu
Not necessarily, my local authority used "休業" when PM Abe asked the schools to close. However, for us "休業" now means reduced classes. Japanese parents around me can't understand why the kids are still going to school a couple of half days a week. Apparently closed schools in local bureaucratspeak is 休校
Are you sure?
休業=Business closures
休校= School closures
To Japanese people, these are completely different.
lostrune2
The problem is not about those who would only have symptoms that won't require hospitalization
The problem is they would keep passing the virus to other people, eventually reaching so quickly a lot of people that includes the most vulnerable requiring hospitalization and thus overwhelming the healthcare system
That's why they're asking people to stay home
They don't care as much if you're infected, but more if you're infected and you're passing it on to a lot of people