Tokyo reports 1,274 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 5,521

More than 1400 again today. Shut down. Please.

Total shut down overdue.

That is heart-breaking. They were denied in light of the fact that they were named a 'gentle' case. It's the unconventionality of this illness that makes it so unnerving.downtown LA

Back to the Japanese way... to keep the numbers down do limited number of test! 1274 infected from 2670... almost 50%. How Japan gets away with this is bizarre. Imagine if China or The US did limited testing like this, the global community and international leaders would have bashed the administrations and relevant authorities. But it’s Japan so everyone keeps quiet...such a shame! This paints a false picture to many people who become too relaxed / careless and this leads to the virus spreading even further with more deaths which could have all been avoided! Test more to isolate the infected so that the spread can be minimized and eventually eliminated!

@Dr. Zoro

ZorotoToday 06:00 pm JST

Nation wide testing was over 55,000. Does that make you happy?

No. Does it make you happy that with a population of 126 million, they tested 55,000?

Actually yes it does. It is warranted and statistically perfect. Or very close to perfect. Why should no symptom populous be tested?

By the way, I love and respect all your posts De. Zoro

You can bet that there will be no mention of the number of tests by the mainstream media but something along the lines that the number of positives is reducing but the serious cases are increasing and medical system strained. Gotta make sure the public is getting WYSIWYB (What You See Is What You Believe)

2670 tests? Excuse me?? Sorry, but these numbers don't make sense ... and out of those 1,274 are positive? Only a fool would believe that! Every page I visit has different numbers!! And 5521 positive in total, almost as many as yesterday BS?!

Ridiculously low testing numbers continue only to keep the Olympic flame flickering. Sorry to extinguish your hopes but it ain't gonna happen . Get fair dinkum and test like they do in Oz.

Japanese government just suppressing testing to reduce those "reported" numbers while pretending that there's no covid in Japan. Hospitals beds are already pretty much full, but government have no plans to increase beds, or to provide additional resources to increase supply. In their mind, they have already "beaten" the virus. Testing will be gradually reduced up to the Olympics, you are completely on your own if you catch it in Japan. Next to 0 chance that you can get treatment if you need it.

The way Japan does contract tracing is foolish as well. Instead of trying to find contacts, they actively try to eliminate as many contacts from being defined as "close contact" as possible. You have to prove that you have been within 2 meters for 15 or more minutes without a mask to qualify for a free test. Otherwise, even if you spent days with the person, as long as you cannot prove that you were with the infected without masks for 15+ mins, you cannot qualify as a "close contact" and given the opportunity to test.

If the govt really want the olympics as we keep hearing then the logical thing to assume is that they are doing theyre best to contain the infection.

Japan has always been very good at whitewashing reality. However, Japan is not very good at managing reality. Surely the IOC can see what is happening here.

Does anyone know what the Government hopes to gain by limiting testing?

Why is 1,300 the apparently desired threshold?

I can't see a persuasive objective outside of a deliberate campaign to avoid panic (that's fair in a way because people panic quickly here) and spread the disease through the whole country. There isn't some idiot 'Expert' still pushing the herd immunity concept is there?

Nation wide testing was over 55,000. Does that make you happy?

Nope, it wasn't. !8,349 tests were performed nationwide on the 17th.

Tokyo usually tests more than the other Prefectures, if Tokyo carried

out only 2670 tests it is just logical that the other prefectures also carried out lower tests

than Tokyo.

I simply cannot understand the lack of testing.

more testing——more people quarantined——less chance of spread——-less grandparents/great-grandparents die.

what am I missing here!?

Japan, you’ve had a year. Even if it saves 50 older people a day isn’t that WORTH IT!?!?

@Zoroto

That's tragic. They were refused because they were classified as a 'mild' case. It's the unpredictability of this disease that makes it so scary.

There is obviously a very strong correlation between the lack of providing testing and having no capabilities to develop an own vaccine.

The government is so dumb, what on earth are the drugs are they taking? Testing is pathetic track and trace pathetic. Japan's government has a long way to go before being in anyway credible in any way shape or form.

I'm in two minds about why the testing numbers are low. The obvious reason would be the Olympics, but it's also possible that the government doesn't want to waste free tests on asymptomatic people and only test those with symptoms.

Healthy state of mind, not being closed minded.

Anyway suppressing testing because of the olympics is completely illogical.

The olympics can only happen if they have brought the infections sufficiently under control.

Deliberately lowering number of tests, meaning declining even legitimate requests for tests would actually be encouraging the spread,

If the govt really want the olympics as we keep hearing then the logical thing to assume isbthat they are doing theyre best to contain the infection.

And this "best" also takes the livelihood of people under consideration, not just implementing irrational extreme measures.

No use saving people from infection if theyre gonna die of other things anyway.

And of course, even if they do their best, they may also be failing.

it's also possible that the government doesn't want to waste free tests on asymptomatic people and only test those with symptoms.

Yeah because we want all those asymptomatic people to continue walking around spreading the virus.

Nation wide testing was over 55,000. Does that make you happy?

Not really. The capacity in Tokyo alone is 65,000 / day.

Why are they stockpiling tests? What are they waiting for?

They've got them (according to Koike), so use them.

2,670 tests is laughable.

This has been going on almost a year, and the total number of positive cases has doubled in the last 6 weeks.

If that doesn't spell it out to people that things are getting worse then I don't know what will.

Nation wide testing was over 55,000. Does that make you happy?

Looks like the jgovt wanted to keeps numbers in low 1000s so the am coney Olympic

i@nToday  04:33 pm JST

this would suggest that the infection numbers released each day might not be as phoney as we think.

But i dont think of it as phoney at all.

I look at it as best available data.

You might be right. I should probably clarify this as "many people on this forum think."

I'm in two minds about why the testing numbers are low. The obvious reason would be the Olympics, but it's also possible that the government doesn't want to waste free tests on asymptomatic people and only test those with symptoms. I don't think that's necessarily a bad idea, but the J govt has never been one to waste an opportunity to squander enormous amounts of money. The cynic in me says that whoever is supplying the test kits is not an LDP donor, so there's no incentive to reward them.

This SOE is nowhere near as strict as last year's. Thus, number aren't going down.

Cripes, what a low number of tests (re the weekend factor, see my comment yesterday)!

And,

@Derek Grebe of course already "I.D"d the absurdly high positive rate...

this would suggest that the infection numbers released each day might not be as phoney as we think.

But i dont think of it as phoney at all.

I look at it as best available data.

The fact that there are more and more severe cases but new cases in total are going down isn't reassuring. Just guessing, but it could be that healthcare facilities that deal with the virus are getting so overwhelmed they are forced to arbitrarily refuse to test people with less severe symptoms so that they can focus on severe cases. That would be understandable on their part but inexcusable for those in charge who've had a year to deal with this.

Infected with severe symptoms still going up, probably deaths too

This will happen as symptoms progress in vulnerable people who developed the illness, as these curves follow the infections curve. If the numbers of people with severe symptoms level off and start falling in the next week or two, this would suggest that the infection numbers released each day might not be as phoney as we think.

I make that close to 48% positivity rate, and the govt isn't committing to mass vaccination even by July, according to another headline today.

Looks like the pension crisis could be fixed in a most Darwinian way.

Infected with severe symptoms still going up, probably deaths too

Still testing so low? 2,670 tests is unbelievable, specially when hospitals are struggling already and refusing patients, as per article below:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/01/19/national/japan-coronavirus-hospitals-medical-system/

Decreased testing to force low positive numbers in order to the end the current SOE (and SOE that was nothing but an act to “pretending something was being done”).

And of course to also back up the “Olympics are still possible” propaganda that no one believes anymore.

Concluding... nothing new!