Osaka tops Tokyo as Japan reports 1,070 more coronavirus infections

OHO...OHO...OHO...

Not bad for a Wednesday!

Not bad for 3 weeks after the “Go to Travel” Campaign starts.

Where are all the apocalyptical numbers that the people here predict after July 23rd ,when the “Go to travel” Campaign starts?

Japan, thank you very much to you and your citizens for doing a very very good job to keep the Virus under control by doing the best prevention during the daily life.

Thanks again and I feel very very safe to live in Japan.

Good news that Japan has managed to make it this far without a serious outbreak. Good evidence for the effectiveness of masks.

Not bad for 3 weeks after the “Go to Travel” Campaign starts.

Where are all the apocalyptical numbers that the people here predict after July 23rd ,when the “Go to travel” Campaign starts?

The worries are not about Tokyoites bringing the virus back to Tokyo, but about them taking it to other parts of the country.

Okinawa is reporting 71 new cases today, roughly double yesterday's figure.

I think the heat is definitely laying COVID-19 in its waste. I am sure recoveries will exceed new cases again today.

@i@n

You are correct

For those interested in more in-depth information; 186 positives based on roughly shockingly low 1100 tests from past Sunday (08/16), which is about 15% positive rate.

https://www.fukushihoken.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/index.files/0819sokuhou.pdf

“So be careful not to wear those masks unnecessarily and overheat.”

I’d just get rid of “unnecessarily”. Wearing them when the closest person is some distance off is certainly laughable

Edit: 16.2% positive rate.

“Keep wearing those masks people! Stay safe!!”

Nope

For those interested in more in-depth information; 186 positives based on roughly shockingly low 1100 tests from past Sunday (08/16), which is about 15% positive rate.

The number of test listed on the Tokyo gov't page is even lower 1013 test.

The results for tomorrow Aug 20th will be for the 5456 test taken on Monday 17th, we will see whether

it is trending downwards like some are fast to conclude, forgetting that the larger the number of test the

more positives. It is naive to think it is trending downwards in the absence of a containment plan.

Okinawa is reporting 71 new cases today, roughly double yesterday's figure.

And now we are over 1800 total, with getting close to 1600 in the past three weeks. It's getting so bad that the JSDF is sending 50 medical staff down here to assist, AND the Gov is asking for assistance in moving severely ill patients to mainland hospitals for treatment, as bed space is near capacity.

Hospitals are reporting more and more "cluster" out breaks too.

All along the way, the Gov is asking Okinawan's to stay home as much as possible, but all over the place we see tourists from mainland, out and about, and many, not all but many, without masks, and without following any social distancing rules as well.

We are now close to three weeks with having between 2 to 3 times MORE cases here, per 100,000 people, than the "worst" number 2 (Tokyo).

I am sick and tired of JT and other media ALWAYS focusing on Tokyo! Other prefectures, including Osaka, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Chiba have see a large rise in numbers as well.

Yet the pundits here are like..."Oh it's no biggie!" I will tell you, it IS a biggie!

And in Osaka, its 187 today.

So MORE cases in OSAKA than Tokyo. (Though Osaka has been way way higher than Tokyo for weeks if counting number of cases per capita.)

One would imagine that sine Osaka is now the leader by total cases, then maybe the news stories should headline with there instead.

I am sick and tired of JT and other media ALWAYS focusing on Tokyo! Other prefectures, including Osaka, Saitama, Kanagawa, and Chiba have see a large rise in numbers as well.

Not to mention, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba are essentially the "suburbs" or Tokyo. In the sense that a large number of people who work in Tokyo actually reside in these other prefectures.

The worries are not about Tokyoites bringing the virus back to Tokyo, but about them taking it to other parts of the country.

Actually, it is often local people who do bring back the virus to their place after travelling to Tokyo or other places with infection.

I have been travelling 3 times since the end of SOE, and saw many doing the same as me to those places, but no explosion of cases where I have been. The Go to Campaign might have an impact, but this is minor. Many people still do come to Tokyo, Osaka for business or just a visit and they bring back the virus.

So mostly it has about a 98.4% recovery rate even if you were unlucky enough to catch it, What are you all so scared and worried about ?

75% of those "recovered" have structural changes to their lungs and heart, with one third of all who have recovered still having symptoms such as chronic fatigue and cognitive problems.

Just because some people are ignorant, doesn't mean we all have to be.

“Just because some people are ignorant, doesn't mean we all have to be.”

Just because some people haven’t woken up yet, doesn’t mean we all have to be

facts show that his virus will only kill 98.6% of the people unlucky enough to catch it

thus spoke the

bullshitzen

So if it kills 1.4%, that is 1.76 million Japanese, assuming everyone catches it.

And to the folks here who think the virus is no problem, these deaths are "acceptable", until its one of THEIR loved one's!

Deaths are not “acceptable”, deaths are a “fact of life”.

There are 126,000,000 people in this country. They will all die ..someday..

So far, in 6 months, about 1150 people have died in Japan from this. How long do you think it would take to kill 1,760,000 from this? Well, IF so, at THIS rate, a very, very long time. Long enough to die from everything else that kills people.

But that closing things down, discouraging life socially and economically will destroy lives, that IS a certainty. And that won’t take very long.

By the way, I see that 1000 cases a day is strangely less than the 1500 nearly a month ago. What happened to the exponential burst of cases?

@Ashley Shiba

Please stay at home but I won’t as I don’t want to starve to death!

I’ll be getting the 9am train into Osaka this morning.

I’m tired of this stay at home mentality...

By the way, I see that 1000 cases a day is strangely less than the 1500 nearly a month ago. What happened to the exponential burst of cases?

July 19: 512 reported cases

July 20: 411 reported cases

July 21: 634 reported cases

July 23: 980 reported cases

July 30: 1301 reported cases

August 6: 1487 reported cases

August 13: 1176 reported cases

August 19: 1075 reported cases

There were 400 - 650 cases a day being reported a month ago.

The sudden drop in reported cases coincides with the Mountain Day and Obon holidays.

By the way, I see that 1000 cases a day is strangely less than the 1500 nearly a month ago. What happened to the exponential burst of cases?

The number of new infections in a day tends to fall during the first half of the week, and rise during the latter half. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government announces tallies based on reports submitted by medical institutions when they confirm infection cases, and it takes about three days from the time tests are conducted to when new cases are announced. Therefore, figures remain low in the first half of the week as cases from the weekend, during which hospitals are generally closed and few tests are conducted, are tallied during this period. On the contrary, figures announced later in the week include infections confirmed after those who stayed put at home during the weekend visited hospitals earlier in the week. Hence, a gap is seen among figures throughout the week.

Why is there such a time lag between conducting the tests and announcing the results?

*It takes one to two days to obtain results from the virus-detecting polymerase chain reaction tests. A time lag occurs as medical institutions then create reports on new infections and fax them to public health centers in the capital, and the metropolitan government compiles the data sent in by each public health center.*

You can see how the Obon holidays might influence the number of reported cases...

Fax machines... Unbelievable.

Yes.

So, 1301 cases at the end of July.

What “case burst” - to about what number - do you expect by the end of August? A prediction?

I would say if it’s anywhere within a few hundred of the above number, it would be very good news.

What “case burst” - to about what number - do you expect by the end of August? A prediction?

Based on current trends and the govt's inaction, the future looks less than encouraging.

BartoToday  01:16 am JST

@Peter finally some sense !

I would add brain damage to your list as well: some patients never recovered capability to concentrate on tasks, have massive headaches or couldn't recover taste / smell capability after infection. This later has been related to the virus infection ...

Sorry, seems a little soon to say never recover being as we havent had the virus even a year .

75% of those "recovered" have structural changes to their lungs and heart, with one third of all who have recovered still having symptoms such as chronic fatigue and cognitive problems.

What you are suggesting would literally change humankind, if 75% of those who caught corona have lifelong disability.

Sorry, in all respect I think you are over stating the danger.

Summer heat is not killing the virus apart from handrails in the local park. It is now spreading through air conditioning and poor ventilation.

Is it so difficult to understand that the less Pcr test you do the less

number of infections you detect and the more chances of asympthomatic

cases unknowingly spread the virus in communities increasing the chances

of the elderly and those with underlying diseases contracting the virus.

Summer heat isn't helping with the imaginations of people.

@memoryfix

By the way, I see that 1000 cases a day is strangely less than the 1500 nearly a month ago. What happened to the exponential burst of cases?

The same as what happen every time you put something on its way : lock-down, state of emergency, self restrain, ... depending of the level and the level of compliance it slow, decrease, stop.

As it is around off time and testing politics has highly variability

depending of place... , so we need more time to know in which kind of

move we are.

Pure exponential model are mostly theoretical as you will have difficulties make everybody follow the : do nothing to stop it ; if you catch it it's on you so bear the shame (it's life or you deserve it ; depending of the school) ; if you die from it you deserve it and if you have sequel, lets ignore it. Their will still be a significant number of people self-restraining, quarantining themselves for any symptoms, confining themselves to reduce risk and so on, ... bear it, you fail and will continue to.

"And to the folks here who think the virus is no problem, these deaths are "acceptable", until its one of THEIR loved one's!"

That line gets trotted out a lot. Yet a lot of the elderly have come forward of late to protest at further restrictions being placed on them, at the expense of the majority.

What you are suggesting would literally change humankind, if 75% of those who caught corona have lifelong disability.

Sorry, in all respect I think you are over stating the danger.

I didn’t suggest anything about the length or severity of the effect on heart or lungs.

These are facts as we know now, and I’m very careful to not overstate anything. This information is readily available. Of course we don’t know how long these effects last. You took the leap to “lifelong disability,” not me.

A comment above mine (since disappeared) was about this being a government conspiracy and the death rate is so small that it’s insignificant. People who have “recovered” are still having symptoms after months.

Some people don't like the truth, Lets be in denial and just accept the low number of infections and

pat ourselves on the back that our non-containment effort is helping to keep the infection rate low

when it is crystal clear the numbers are low because the number of test is embarassingly low.

The governor of Osaka himself doesn't think 2000 PCR tests is low for a pref with a pop of 8M.

Everybody is on their own, believe the daily low numbers and lower your guard at your own peril.

Will the media and government now stop focusing on Tokyo and feature the whole of Japan. The Tokyo fixation meant many people thought the virus wasn’t an issue where they live.

The trend is going up in Japan, looking at daily numbers do not give an overall picture. The testing numbers need to be in included whenever anyone is reporting on cases.

@drlucifer

that our non-containment effort is helping to keep the infection rate low

Do not mistake behavior. There is lot of people self restraining and doing containment effort even without if not against government (and the people from the various school), so this still have an impact.

lower your guard at your own peril

You should be careful of your wording, it make you sound like people from some of the various school, as if you can have more control over spread to/from you than you really can. No matter what one say there is no way to get yourself safely 100% off risk of catching a disease, moreover one whose transmission pattern is still unclear, so one can just do one best and hope. And I do not think that, in several area, lot of people think that the current number are low number when taking in account the testing/containment system.

Given the current ineffective reporting of numbers, all gpvernments interested in stopping the spread and to control the actions of irresposible people, the reports should now be 1) No. or people that died, 2) no. of people that are in critical condition, and 3) the number of people that were hospitalized for that day in each city and town. That does not give out personal information and still tells the truth and facts about the virus.

Then they can add the numbers tested and found infected.

Anyway, effective reproduction number in Tokyo is below 1 since August 11.

For Osaka it's below 1 since August 13.

For Okinawa below 1 since August 16

Let's hope they don't go back up above 1.

Not reported in this article was the 1550 recoveries yesterday. The number of active cases is falling, and has fallen around 15% over the last week. Positive signs, even if 1000 new infections a day is still too many.

I agree, the last week of reporting has been encouraging. Besides deaths, which obviously lag behind other metrics, there is a undeniable downward trend. Personally, i believe it is attributable to a majority of individuals taking personal action following the reporting in mid-July. I sincerely hope that in lieu of any government guidance or action, that continues to be the case. As we saw following the SoE, when there was a decline, it was treated as a victory and complacency led to resurgence. I am concerned that due to fatigue with personal protection measures, lack of strong guidance and support from authorities, and economic pressures, people will returned to the behavioural patterns of June which allowed resurgence, leading to a kinda of resurgent cycle, each time lifting the baseline of cases and deaths.

Unscientific side of Japanese society still "discuss" reliability of virus test, hesitate to expand virus test.

It hinder periodically virus test to staff of hospitals or welfare facilities, have caused nosocomial infection and deaths by it almost everyday.

It hinder periodically virus test to staff of hospitals or welfare facilities, have caused nosocomial infection and deaths by it almost everyday.

You mean you know of hospitals who don't test staff regularly?

That's not good.

I mean thats of course also not good for welfare facilities but it's especially bad for hospitals.

Do not mistake behavior. There is lot of people self restraining and doing containment effort even without if not against government (and the people from the various school), so this still have an impact.

I am talking of containment effort of the government and not of individuals. The efforts of Individuals is limited

wearing mask, washing hands, the government on the other hand has to test massively, trace and isolate those

infected and give them the necessary support and those who are not infected can continue to work and sustain the economy. Presently , nobody knows how much infection has spread into communities due to the lack of meaningful testing.

No matter what one say there is no way to get yourself safely 100% off risk of catching a disease, moreover one whose transmission pattern is still unclear

The transmission pattern is very clear and yes you can avoid 100% being infected, limit interaction with

people and you will not get infected. The virus makes use of the human body to survive and spread without which it will die away.

Well, many Osakaans want Osaka to be as great as Tokyo, now they've got their wish, and then some. I guess Yoshimura's "Let's close off a few city blocks for a couple of weeks!" left out every single part of the prefecture for it to spread.

That line gets trotted out a lot.

While others trot out ridiculous lines about "face nappies", "muzzles", and "The media wants us to panic".