People walk towards a train station in Tokyo on Friday night. Photo: AP/Hiro Komae
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Tokyo reports 1,070 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 4,717

40 Comments

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Saturday reported 1,070 new cases of the coronavirus, down 105 from Friday. The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 92,904.

The number (570 men and 500 women) is the result of 11,102 tests conducted on Jan 20.

By age group, the most number of cases were people in their 20s (206), followed by 180 in their 40s, 154 in their 50s, 136 in their 30s, 88 in their 60s, 86 in their 70s and 80 in their 80s. Also, 100 cases were younger than 20 (21 of whom were younger than 10), health officials said.

The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 156, two down from Friday, health officials said. The nationwide figure is 1,009.

Nationwide, the number of reported cases was 4,717. After Tokyo, the prefectures with the most cases were Osaka (525), Kanagawa (521), Chiba (411), Saitama (325), Aichi (246), Hyogo (225), Fukuoka (214), Hokkaido (138), Ibaraki (132), Kyoto (121), Okinawa (79), Yamaguchi (51), Miyagi (48), Gifu (42) and Tochigi (40).

Eighty-three coronavirus-related deaths were reported nationwide.

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40 Comments
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@zoroto

Miraculously, apparently just by doing some light urging, the numbers are perfectly tracking down 

We knew this propaganda would happen. The “japanese miracle” of lower numbers without measures - only country in the world where this is happening without action.

Surely no one with some brains believe this story.

In the meanwhile, close to 7,000 Covid patients are in a waitlist to get access to medical support. While waiting at home, some already died as per recent news. And the list keeps growing day by day.

I do love Japan, but the way government treats its population and their health is abysmal and inhuman.

The only “developed country” acting like this during this pandemic.

22 ( +30 / -8 )

The daily numbers only account for folks who go through government consultation centers. The many thousands of people who now go to private PCR testing facilities (the one in Shinbashi test over 1000 people a day for example) are not included in these numbers as there is no requirement for them to report them to the government. Think about that for a second - literally thousands of tests a day are just ignored by the government. Why would they do that?...

17 ( +20 / -3 )

It would be nice if the slight declines in infections continue. Have to look for every bit of good news these days.

13 ( +15 / -2 )

the olympics is nearing the Covid-19 count of course would definitely go down(liars)

10 ( +12 / -2 )

I'm not sure if the situation has changed in Japan, but a while ago Japan was using a slightly high cycle threshold, which countless experts insist will produce too many false positive results. But of course, those big pharma lobbyists who are always pushing vaccines and falsely discounting cheap effective treatments, will say this is not true.

Apparently the WHO has decreased the recommended Ct, so I expect the Covid19 cases world wide will decrease even faster.

shills will insist y

No, that is still nonsense, since Japan is using technology from this decade there is no meaning on the number of cycles, false positives can be discarded even automatically by the machines used because there are plenty of other parameters that allows for their identification, specially because since the beginning the National Institute of Infectious Diseases of Japan published improved protocols that list those extra parameters (and use fluorescent probes, that do not report a positive just because of the number of cycles).

It is irrelevant who anybody said, if it can be proved that the testing is reliable and not dependent on the number of cycles then it would be dishonest to keep repeating this debunked conspiracy theory. There is no reason to think PCR detection in Japan produces false positives in any significant amount.

8 ( +14 / -6 )

Readers, that's enough bickering. Never mind who said what to whom. It's not relevant (what lawyers call hearsay).

I've heard that many medical staff in the UK who had previously recovered from the virus had severe reactions to the vaccine.

How many staff, what were the reactions, and from whom did you hear this?

I hear and read many things. I’ve pointed out a few times that there is pandemic of posters on here who know unnamed doctors and other medical professionals who conveniently share their views. I tend to be sceptical of anecdotes with unnamed sources. I was also told this pandemic burned itself out months ago on this site.

All a bit questionable.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

I was talking with my doctor this afternoon. He was cautious, but hinted in his roundabout way that the SoE is unnecessary and seemed to be doing more overall harm than good. That included mental health and the reduced ability to treat people with other illnesses like cancer etc in public hospitals. He agreed with me that the media has been irresponsible in its reporting of this situation. He said that in his opinion, the PCR tests were mainly reliable in that Japan was using a consistent count of cycles to get the test results, but wasn't sure how many cycles Japan was using...

I am sorry but your doctor seems terribly under-qualified to have a significant opinion about the situation (that is if you even understood it properly, maybe his "roundabout way" was actually expressing something very different that you misconstructed). What is clear is that if he keeps thinking the number cycles of the qRT-PCR are in any way significant for Japan he has not the knowledge necessary to make an informed opinion.

6 ( +17 / -11 )

Well, given that you weren't there, how would you know? My wife, a native Japanese speaker, was there and she understood it in the same way, and understood what he was saying without saying it directly. What makes you an expert on what my doctor does or does not know? Since you always back away from stating your qualifications and alleged expertise, I'll take my qualified doctor's opinion over yours any day.

Again, this is only you saying it, it is not like we can have a direct account of what the doctor or your wife said to corroborate it. Its an appeal to authority except that everybody is supposed to believe you on the opinion of that authority. If for example I said that an expert working on spearhead research on epidemiology and virology in two different national universities said that "most clinical doctors in Japan are hopelessly ignorant about everything of importance on the pandemic" would it be an argument? is that enough to prove your doctor was wrong? I mean, it is a super-expert on the topic, so you would have to believe what I am saying he said, right?

And I already explained the reason why he seems quite badly prepared, it may seem surprising to you, but absolutely no qualifications are necessary if you can explain why someone is completely mistaken. Feel free to imagine I am an elementary school student, that doesn't change the fact that thinking pRT-PCR cycles are important in any way for the japanese system of COVID-19 means your doctor is talking about something he doesn't understand at all. That is the whole point, discussing the arguments and not the people (and providing proof that someone actually said what you are saying they said or at least to the evidence they used to reach that conclusion).

5 ( +14 / -9 )

Has there been any reduction in people going out? Do these kind of numbers even remotely make sense?

5 ( +6 / -1 )

Keep cycling and the virus will be there...

4 ( +6 / -2 )

*You don't have to believe me, but I stand by what I said. But if you're going to be consistent, at least it's worth thinking twice taking the posts from a certain individual who attempts to assume the position of an expert on viruses and pandemics, yet shies away from presenting any evidence of this when challenged, and instead resorts to dismissing anyone with a different opinion as a crank or loon, no matter how internationally recognised those people may be (I'm referring to actual experts, not me of course).*

To be fair, virusrex does make far more sense than our resident conspiracy theorists and rightists who are more interested in narratives.

As for ‘internationally recognised’ people on this issue, that’s fine, but the blizzards of posts relaying conversations with unnamed medical professionals backing up their ‘sceptical’ or ‘free thinking’ narratives shouldn’t carry any weight.

Best to stick to sources we all have access to on a topic as serious as this. I’m ‘sceptical’ in that way

4 ( +6 / -2 )

kyronstavicToday  04:59 pm JST

“I think this downward trend is genuine; “

might I interest you in a bridge I have for sale?

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Enough with this its getting better stuff.

Anyone checked the daily deaths or looked at the steeply rising graph. Weekly average deaths over 100 now! Steeply rising since December and further even steeper rise since mid January. A hundred people die daily from ICU and are instantly replaced with more because the total number does not go down.

New record deaths yesterday 108

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Miraculously, apparently just by doing some light urging, the numbers are perfectly tracking down to lift the SOE,

Why fudge the numbers now? Why not just fudge the numbers when they reached over 2,000? All of you who are claiming the government can't be trusted with reporting data are illogical and conspiracy theorists. Cognitive dissonance at its best. Only believe data that comports to your belief that the j-government is evil.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

the olympics is nearing the Covid-19 count of course would definitely go down(liars)

Similar number of tests, but the count is going down. Are you saying they are all faked?

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Great let’s lift the soe and restart Goto. And sarcasm is not the same as being rude or personal. By all means delete this post like the others you have. Are you moderately intelligent ?

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Is anybody tracking the changes by age groups?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 156, two down from Friday,

Unfortunately, it looks like those two people had died, if I'm reading the figures and graphs correctly.

Still, there looks to be a slow downward trend in the number of hospitalised patients, and the number or people with serious symptoms seems to be levelling off.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

There is no reason to think PCR detection in Japan produces false positives in any significant amount.

If there's a reason to think pcr tests in othercountries produce significant number of false positives then why should there be no reason to think it is the same injapan,

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Nice to see the downward trend continuing.

-2 ( +15 / -17 )

"The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 156, two down from Friday, health officials said. The nationwide figure is 1,009."

Some good news. Let s keep moving those numbers moving downward. Good job medical staff!

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

I love Japan, but the way government treats its population and their health is abysmal and inhuman.

The only “developed country” acting like this during this pandemic.

Acting like what? Protecting it's people better than almost all developed countries?

-3 ( +5 / -8 )

I hear and read many things. I’ve pointed out a few times that there is pandemic of posters on here who know unnamed doctors and other medical professionals who conveniently share their views. I tend to be sceptical of anecdotes with unnamed sources. I was also told this pandemic burned itself out months ago on this site. 

All a bit questionable.

You don't have to believe me, but I stand by what I said. But if you're going to be consistent, at least it's worth thinking twice taking the posts from a certain individual who attempts to assume the position of an expert on viruses and pandemics, yet shies away from presenting any evidence of this when challenged, and instead resorts to dismissing anyone with a different opinion as a crank or loon, no matter how internationally recognised those people may be (I'm referring to actual experts, not me of course).

-4 ( +6 / -10 )

There is no reason to think PCR detection in Japan produces false positives in any significant amount.

You keep saying this, but when even a three-time gold medalist had a false positive I find it hard to believe. Either way I don't care as long as the virus is under relative control.

-5 ( +3 / -8 )

False positives could be one reason japan is notdoing mass testing of not suspected cases

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

That is false, a misconception from people that don't understand the technique and how is done.

I think that someone who truly understands the technique would get their point across much more clearly, instead I find your descriptions to be overly fancy and very unclear, I think I know who is the one who does not understand it.

Also, so many experts world wide are saying that we should not use Ct values over 30 or 35. You are the only person saying otherwise, and your explanations don't really make any sense.

Also, according to the WHO's updated version of an Information Notice for IVD Users issue Jan 13, 2021:

"WHO guidance Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 states that careful interpretation of weak positive results is needed (1). The cycle threshold (Ct) needed to detect virus is inversely proportional to the patient’s viral load. Where test results do not correspond with the clinical presentation, a new specimen should be taken and retested using the same or different NAT technology."

-7 ( +3 / -10 )

He said that in his opinion, the PCR tests were mainly reliable in that Japan was using a consistent count of cycles to get the test results, but wasn't sure how many cycles Japan was using...

I'm not sure if the situation has changed in Japan, but a while ago Japan was using a slightly high cycle threshold, which countless experts insist will produce too many false positive results. But of course, those big pharma lobbyists who are always pushing vaccines and falsely discounting cheap effective treatments, will say this is not true.

Apparently the WHO has decreased the recommended Ct, so I expect the Covid19 cases world wide will decrease even faster.

shills will insist y

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

ZorotoToday  05:10 pm JST

the same thing happened in Hokkaido in December 

Yes, same thing happening in Tokyo -- hiding the numbers.

A friend of mine got infected last week in Hokkaido. He had symptoms but they refused to test him. He had to order an online antigen test kit for 3000 yen, and after that came back positive, they finally agreed to a PCR test, which also came back positive.

So they are very clearly restricting testing in Hokkaido, even for symptomatic cases. There is no doubt this is going on in Tokyo and elsewhere also.

What kind of symptoms did your friend have? Something similar to a light cold, or more serious? And did they develop any further?

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

I think this downward trend is genuine; the same thing happened in Hokkaido in December without any SoE issued. We're dealing with bigger numbers because of Tokyo's higher population, but the curve looks similar.

I was talking with my doctor this afternoon. He was cautious, but hinted in his roundabout way that the SoE is unnecessary and seemed to be doing more overall harm than good. That included mental health and the reduced ability to treat people with other illnesses like cancer etc in public hospitals. He agreed with me that the media has been irresponsible in its reporting of this situation. He said that in his opinion, the PCR tests were mainly reliable in that Japan was using a consistent count of cycles to get the test results, but wasn't sure how many cycles Japan was using...

The main thing that worried him was the stress that doctors and nurses are under, partly because they can't treat people who require other types care, and something else I didn't clearly catch, but I think it was how the government is going to manage vaccinating medical staff once the vaccines became available, especially in terms of keeping the vaccines at the right temperature. He said that there are lots of doctors (he didn't mention nurses, but the same probably goes for them) suffering depression due to isolating themselves from family and the long hours.

-10 ( +7 / -17 )

virusrexToday  05:07 pm JST

I was talking with my doctor this afternoon. He was cautious, but hinted in his roundabout way that the SoE is unnecessary and seemed to be doing more overall harm than good. That included mental health and the reduced ability to treat people with other illnesses like cancer etc in public hospitals. He agreed with me that the media has been irresponsible in its reporting of this situation. He said that in his opinion, the PCR tests were mainly reliable in that Japan was using a consistent count of cycles to get the test results, but wasn't sure how many cycles Japan was using...

I am sorry but your doctor seems terribly under-qualified to have a significant opinion about the situation (that is if you even understood it properly, maybe his "roundabout way" was actually expressing something very different that you misconstructed). What is clear is that if he keeps thinking the number cycles of the qRT-PCR are in any way signicant for Japan he has not the knowledge necessary to make an informed opinion.

Well, given that you weren't there, how would you know? My wife, a native Japanese speaker, was there and she understood it in the same way, and understood what he was saying without saying it directly. What makes you an expert on what my doctor does or does not know? Since you always back away from stating your qualifications and alleged expertise, I'll take my qualified doctor's opinion over yours any day.

-10 ( +7 / -17 )

So they are very clearly restricting testing in Hokkaido, even for symptomatic cases. There is no doubt this is going on in Tokyo and elsewhere also.

That is why I've been saying for a looong time that the actual infection numbers are much higher than the official numbers, especially if you consider all the asymptomatics.

So many more of us than we think are already immune to this virus.

I've heard that many medical staff in the UK who had previously recovered from the virus had severe reactions to the vaccine.

So anyone who has recovered from Covid might want to avoid vaccinations; actually, perhaps everyone should...

-11 ( +5 / -16 )

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