Tokyo reports 2,612 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 10,574

Reposting as there is no option to edit once posted with correct data -

Today number at 2612 - this number is 1097 less than last week (last week number was 3709).

Am sure there will be posters highlighting such big drop but keep in mind that yesterday was a national holiday in Japan and hence this low number is result of very low number of tests conducted - total tests conducted yesterday was only at 5088 only.

More important is to keep in mind below facts -

Last week Tues number of tests conducted was 9928 for positive number of 3709, a positivity ratio of 37.4%

Today number of tests is reduced by 4840 from last week (today test no is 5088) and positive no at 2612 - positivity ratio of 51.3%

This is a crazy high positivity ratio by far in any city across the world…..

"The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 176, up 19 from Monday" - this is more concerning than the fluctuating case counts.

No surprise at the lower number - it is obon after all, so lots of folks left Tokyo last Friday and won’t be back until this weekend.

I'd love to believe that this genuinely represents a drop in cases, but I don't know if I have the self-hypnosis skills required.

The games are over, people are now actually paying attention to what's going on outside the games, and if they start seeing figures of 4 to 5 thousand as per last week, they might get the impression that the government's not doing its job in keeping numbers down.

So it's hard to take these figures without reading something else into them.

Wow - down again. Third day in a row.

Yep. I was right. Looks like the number of cases peaked last week. The Olympic is over and the foreigner has left. The number of cases will continue to go down. Good job Tokyo!

Games ended, numbers dramatically down…. Now smile, it’s a joke only. lol

Vaccines are doin their job.

Are we living in some alternative univers?

A city of 14 million and a 3 day average of tests is 5,928

5,088 test yesterday and a dismal 3,265 on Sunday.

These are numbers one expects to see in some poor underdeveloped country with a single major hospital.

Yes this is relevant as it clearly shows the incompetence or collusion by the government to avoid testing and knowing who is actually sick.

Crap, complete Crap, to believe the official results, you really are in a place I have been searching for my whole life.

CommodoreFlagToday  05:04 pm JST

Wow - down again. Third day in a row.

Wow testing down 6th day in a row!

Down to underdeveloped country status

Vaccines are doing their job.

As of last Friday the total number of serious covid cases or deaths, of those two weeks after the second vaccination, in the whole of Japan was ZERO.

So either they are doing their job or its an awfully convenient coincidence that seems to be repeating itself around the world.

Today number of tests is reduced by xxx from last week (today test no is 5088) and positive no at 2612 - positivity ratio of 51.3%

Terrifying numbers in Tokyo. Unbelievably bad, worse than I could have imagined.

5088 tests, 2612 positive.

That's over 51% positivity.

Remind me again about how safe the last two weeks were, please, Mr. Suga? Your German chum seems to have skipped town with a lot of luggage marked "Swag".

Last week Tues number of tests conducted was 9928 for positive number of 3709, a positivity ratio of 37.4%

Today number of tests is reduced by 4840 from last week (today test no is 5088) and positive no at 2612 - positivity ratio of 51.3%

Sounds like only sick people are submitting themselves for testing. How strange.....

MordacToday  05:28 pm JST

Sounds like only sick people are submitting themselves for testing. How strange.....

Wow amazing people only get sick on weekdays never on weekends and holidays.

Japan has the most convenient covid virus variants in the world.

ZorotoToday  05:29 pm JST

176 intubated or on ECMO are the highest number yet. Previous high was 160.

Unless the treatment protocols have improved that much, 3/4 of these end up dying.

Severe in Tokyo does not mean ICU, it's only for intubated or ECMO ?

This is really a good way to manipulate the reality. Shame on Tokyo government.

ZorotoToday  05:38 pm JST

Yes, severe in Tokyo is intubated or ECMO.

I cannot imagine how many patients are in ICU in Tokyo.

ZorotoToday  05:34 pm JST

Here's a story of a men in his 50's who got a free 5-hour tour of Tokyo when 120 hospitals refused to admit him.

https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20210810/k10013192161000.html

This is what it means for the hospital system being overwhelmed.11

I read it too, shocking. That never happen in my country even if it was one of the most ravages by the virus. Japan cannot managed the crisis after so many months. I feel very sad for citizens here.

ZorotoToday  05:47 pm JST

Assuming 1/4 of active cases are in Tokyo and there are 1200 serious patients in the country, likely 300-400 are in ICU (with or without intubation/ECMO). But this is just an educated guess.

My native country has now 457 patients at hospital including 118 in ICU, so 1/4 of actives cases sound a good guess.

Wow! Only 2600?! That's way down!

Let's look at how many tests were conducted, surely at least 15,000....oh....only 5000 tests...

So...2600 positive out of 5000 tests.

Government is not hiding bodies!

Here goes again: if you delay testing long enough and someone dies before they are tested, cause of death is officially not Covid. Something like a fifth of deaths in Japan are generally ascribed to pneumonia. Logical, as it is opportunistic and gets people with weakened immune systems. Considering the high rates of diabetes in Japan, cancer, heart disease, high blood pressure, liver and kidney disease ... lots of wiggle room there, if people haven't jumped through the right hoops before dying, for some causes of death to be ascribed to pneumonia, or one of their comorbidities. Specially if your hospital is worried about 'reputational damage' from being a Covid hotspot, let's say, if it is not officially designated as having a Covid ward. Someone dying of Covid there could have serious financial repercussions for the institution.

Then there is the issue of corpses conveniently getting 'fast-track' cremation:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/07/national/testing-corpse

And requests in Japan to test corpses for coronavirus are often rejected:

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/07/national/testing-corpses-coronavirus/  

So as the articles explain, while there is a public health interest to have accurate reporting, there are various interests within the industry in fudging it.

And then there is the knotty problem of people with Covid dying unhospitalised:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210511/p2a/00m/0na/007000c

And the collateral damage of people dying alone and undiscovered

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14403339

Deaths seem to be down from earlier this year, but they are saying the "severe" cases are at a record high in Tokyo. So I wonder if they have changed the criteria to be considered "severe", or deaths just haven't caught up yet.

Some posters on here left this country to get the vaccine in an other country then comes back to still complain about Japan’s testing and vaccination program

For Those Seeking Vaccination Sites in Japan,

https://v-sys.mhlw.go.jp/search/

Find an inoculation venue| Corona Vaccine Navi | Ministry of Health, (mhlw.go.jp)

Yesterday was like a Sunday, so today numbers are always lower : 10574 infections nationally. Even if we know very well that this is not significant compared to countries that test massively.

Also, it seems that almost 20 deaths occurred.

Some posters on here left this country to get the vaccine in an other country then comes back to still complain about Japan’s testing and vaccination program

And for good reason.

I never left, and my son who has a chronic illness still cannot get vaccinated.

My daughter had 2 co-workers with covid in an isolated group of 10 and the government refused to test the remaining 8 and her company had to find a private lab to test them revealing 2 more infected out if the remaining 8.

My mother in law just under 65 and sister in law just under 40 were still waiting for their vouchers until last week in their Saitama prefecture city and now that they finally got them there are no available appointments until late October.

So yes if I could have packed my family up and taken them to another country to get vaccinated I would have.

I still haven't gotten my second dose nor has my wife.

The old members of our family fully vaccinated are 2 90+ years old grandparents my daughter and her mother (ex wife) that both work for large corporations that Vaccinated their employees.

So I see a lot or reasons why people complain

Holiday testing is down. You have to be "having trouble breathing " to get a test. Thursday will be a more reliable number. 6,000 by The weekend?

@Liam Roberts

Some posters on here left this country to get the vaccine in an other country then comes back to still complain about Japan’s testing and vaccination program

What’s your point? I got my vaccine in the US when I traveled home for my father’s memorial service last month. My husband and I literally walked into a grocery store with no appointment (and no ID in my Japanese husband’s case) and got it for free. My family couldn’t believe that we still hadn’t gotten it because they were all vaccinated in March and April.

In Japan, we finally got our stupid vouchers in the middle of July, but they came with a note saying our ward was not vaccinating anyone under 49 and had no date set for when those of us in our 30s could even try to book an appointment. I’m very glad we got vaccinated in the US because it’s looking like we won’t be able to get an appointment until November or December in Japan, which will be one full year after the vaccines starting rolling out in the UK and other countries.

It’s absolutely ridiculous how much Japan is bungling the vaccine rollout and limiting tests, and we have every right to complain about it. Especially after seeing firsthand how much better it could be!

Thomas Goodtime Today  06:54 pm JST

There's enough Coronavirus going around in Japan without having to worry about people from elsewhere, I can assure you.

Right, infection is spreading by people living here.

Just that the organization of the Games gave very wrong messages to the population. Because of that a big minority of people does not care anymore.

And I cannot see how the spreading will stop soon with the current political decisions absolutely not based on recommendations made by virologist, immunologist, doctors...

I compare the covid situation here with the irreversible climate change.

It is all smoke and mirrors.

2,612 cases out of 5,088 tests Japan has the lowest testing of all the major industrial countries.

The government goes on about 100 million doses given but omits to mention that over 45 million of those were given out in record time by private companies that received 50 million doses and will end Vaccination within a week.

Without low testing and the help of the major companies Vaccinations we would be in an even bigger disaster.

Already public vaccination is difficult to get an appointment and that is without needing to vaccinate millions of employees of large corporations.

Once they are no longer vaccinating employees and their family members.

The real problem will be back and getting vaccinated will become an ever more difficult process.

Let's face it the government has messed this situation up beyond comprehension and all they can do is try and keep testing down and block hospital admission in order to give the illusion things are not as bad as they really are.

The olympic spirit has defeated the virus

@as_the_crow_flies

Nice comment - I upvoted you for the sourced information.

However, I do believe that other factors are at play and that having a vaccinated elderly population puts Japan in a much better place than other countries who were dealing with bad outbreaks at different stages of the pandemic.

The other factors that have been mentioned here seem to get comments deleted so I'll refrain from restating them.

So in one week severe cases in Tokyo have gone up by 58%

And in Japan severe cases are up 63% in a week.

Keep in mind Tokyo does not count people in ICU as severe unless they are on a respirator, so we can extrapolate that if Tokyo was using the same criteria as the rest of Japan it would be also looking at 63% or more.

These are some heavy increases

Government is playing with numbers.

already got my first shot and will be fully vaccinated by the end of the month, 

Luckily you!

My son with a chronic illness cannot even get an appointment,

He has 3 specialist Doctors including his surgeon. And despite trying everything they haven't had any better success in finding a place for him to get vaccinated.

My mother in law and sister in law live in a city in Saitama and only got their vouchers last week.

No appointments available until late October for their first dose.

This is the reality for many right now.

The government says get vaccinated! OK how out ward has no more vaccine and isn't taking appointments.

The Otemachi site is fully booked and as soon as they open up all spaces are full within an hour at the most.

So the government give lip service cuts testing, etc .

A lot of debate on whether we are testing enough etc.

Obviously it's always a good idea start with the facts and try to see a pattern to get an idea of the direction this is going:

2021/Jan/10 = 45 deaths

2021/Feb/10 =121 deaths

2021/Mar/10 = 54 deaths

2021/Apr/10 = 27 deaths

2021/May/10 = 71 deaths

2021/Jun/10 = 71 deaths

2021/Jul/10 = 11 deaths

2021/Aug/10 = 19 deaths

Please make your own opinions on these as I won't be offering mine.

Well done, keep these numbers down and we will get over this at minimal casualties.

Anti did not mention you exactly but if you want to go there , for over a year you have been bleating about low testing and the jgov answer to it all . Then you tell certain people that they keep repeating themselves on this post , positive or not when you do the same yourself

The final paragraph of a piece written in today’s Guardian:

Japan reported 12,073 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, up 43% percent from a week earlier, with Tokyo accounting for 2,884. That is the highest ever for a Monday, when the number of reported infections is typically lower than on other days.

This is a great example of how simple it is to present the facts clearly and in context.

@Tokyoite

More encouraging data also from the country of origin of the Delta:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/india/

Tokyoite Today  07:58 pm JST

2021/Jan/10 = 45 deaths

2021/Feb/10 =121 deaths

2021/Mar/10 = 54 deaths

2021/Apr/10 = 27 deaths

2021/May/10 = 71 deaths

2021/Jun/10 = 71 deaths

2021/Jul/10 = 11 deaths

2021/Aug/10 = 19 deaths

Severely ill

2021/1/10 = 864.0

2021/2/10 = 713.0

2021/3/10 = 354.0

2021/4/10 = 520.0

2021/5/10 = 1177.0

2021/6/10 = 942.0

2021/6/10 = 425.0

2021/8/9 = 1230.0

@Tokyoite

Number of people requiring inpatient treatment :

2021/1/10 = 58,622

2021/2/10 = 27,889

2021/3/10 = 11,648

2021/4/10 = 29,558

2021/5/10 = 68,061

2021/6/10 = 33,943

2021/7/10 = 17,906

2021/8/9 = 126,268

A high positivity rate indicates testing is low and calls for concern . Unfortunately it isn't the case here. In any other country the experts will be shouting for increased testing here everybody is scared of talking. The experts, the media all know testing is very low yet they all never mention testing, it seems like it is taboo to mention the word testing. The virus has spread to the extend that testing or contact tracing is almost impossible, In Shinjiku Isetan department there is a 140 Staff cluster, Hanshin dept store in Umeda Osaka a cluster of 145 staff that is excluding unknown number of visitors to the department stores that got infected. A 77 person cluster in a juku in funabashi Chiba , with about 90 test results being awaited, Kids in kindergaten and elementary schools are being infected by their parents with some in serious condition. The situation is dire yet people are pretending things are ok and still comparing with other countries that are really testing.

Wuhan has a few cases and plan testing the whole city of 12M people for the second time during this pandemic, without testing that is testing massively when cases are few is the only way the virus can be put under control. Everybody, take care cause if you get infected you are on your own.