Japan reports 21,426 new coronavirus cases

For the statistically inclined, the rolling 7-day average for today is:

Confirmed infections: 56,517, down 1,595 from 58,112 yesterday, 19 days since the peak of 176,025 on 2023/1/12

Severe cases: 568, down 16 from 584 yesterday, 12 days since the peak of 689 on 2023/1/18

Deaths: 317, down 7 from 324 yesterday, 12 days since the peak of 425 on 2023/1/18

Today's tidbit: Europe calculates and (now silently) publishes a very similar value named "7 day incidence", correlating 7 days with the population number (infections of the last seven days per 100,000 people). Germany peaked in May 2022 with an incidence value of roughly 1,800. The UK peaked a bit earlier, in February 2022, with an incidence of slightly over 2,000. Japan peaked on 1/12 with an all-time high incidence of only 1158. As rough as the latest highest wave was, Japan managed to delay it by almost a year, and then peaked half as high as comparable European countries. The reason for that is open to anyone's interpretation.

The Ministry of Health Labor and Welfare has a plethora of data updated daily (https://covid19.mhlw.go.jp/extensions/public/en/index.html).

and the following includes how many tests were conducted daily

(https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/covid-19/kokunainohasseijoukyou_00006.html).

As rough as the latest highest wave was, Japan managed to delay it by almost a year, and then peaked half as high as comparable European countries. The reason for that is open to anyone's interpretation.

It is obviously down to masks and vaccines.

Crazy as that may seem. Hear me out....Japan didn't have lockdowns and planned ahead of time (vaccines etc). China had lockdowns and didn't prepare and suddenly opened, with some estimating 1m deaths. Considering this Japan's performance has been spot on!!!

Looks like it’s finally my turn to join these numbers (maybe tomorrow’s).

Looks like it’s finally my turn to join these numbers (maybe tomorrow’s).

Oh, dear. I hope UR vaxed!!! Get well soon, and if there is anything I can, do just ask.

Oh, dear. I hope UR vaxed!!! Get well soon, and if there is anything I can, do just ask.

I have to admit I’m not quite up to date (didn’t get any more after number three or four, I forget), so my bad.

Well, thank you very much.

It is obviously down to masks and vaccines. 

No way. It can't be!!!!

Looks like it’s finally my turn to join these numbers

Get well soon, George. And if I may, if you can, take it easy for a bit longer than you absolutely need to, cure it out completely. My wife couldn't, work and all, and a month later after a mild progression she still has occasional coughing fits.

Get well soon, George. And if I may, if you can, take it easy for a bit longer than you absolutely need to, cure it out completely. My wife couldn't, work and all, and a month later after a mild progression she still has occasional coughing fits.

Thank you. I will take it easy as much as possible. Regardless, I’ll be isolating at home until Sunday per the doctor’s orders.

Also, some of these home test kits, like the one I used this morning which showed a negative result, can’t be relied on. I wouldn’t recommend anyone to be satisfied with a negative from one of these home spit tests alone.

It is obviously down to masks and vaccines.

No, it's not, especially with regard to masks.

Please. Pretty much everybody and everyone has been masking up in Japan for the past three years. If the masks were so effective, Japan's numbers would have gone down (and stayed down) a long time ago.

As it is, we've had eight COVID waves. During the seventh wave, Japan led the world in COVID cases.

And I wish I had a dollar for every time a COVID cluster has broken out in Japan at a school, hospital, or nursing home -- places where everyone without exception wears masks.

So, no, the masks haven't worked. There's no scientific basis at all for saying they have, and the COVID stats in Japan throughout this pandemic strongly suggest the opposite.

Crazy as that may seem. Hear me out....

No.

@Elvis - If everyone wore those N95 masks, maybe, but 99% wear paper or cotton and touch them hundreds of times a day. They do nothing to stop the spread as wave after wave after wave shows.

During the seventh wave, Japan led the world in COVID cases.

Sure, at that time, mainly because other countries have had their biggest wave way before Japan (then declared FrEeDoM and stopped testing). Again, Japan's most recent and highest wave was only roughly half as high as other countries'. Verifiable fact.

the masks haven't worked. There's no scientific basis at all for saying they have

I'll take your word for that. Because I'm afraid that's all it is, your word.

masks work

They may work, but probably not how they are frequently used (under the nose/mouth/chin, one mask for the entire day, mask put on table/on floor/in pocket and then used again) since the beginning of the pandemic.

Article by a group mainly from the University of Oxford which was published in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article discloses the results of a large analysis on masking and its effect on Covid virus transmission.

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2119266119

“The use of face masks or respirators (N95/KN95) is recommended to reduce transmission of SARS-CoV-2” - source CDC

Note the type of mask the CDC recommends. They know, as does anyone with any common sense, that paper or cotton masks are next door to useless against Omicron variants.

Shroedingers covid measures… vaccines and masks prevented deaths being far worse than they are, yet at the same time do nothing because we still have many deaths.

it pathetic that masks are still worn if so many people are vaccinated. It does not make a difference anymore to wear or not because these paper masks will not help. FFP2 masks are better but must be worn properly.