The Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday reported 673 new coronavirus cases, down 44 from Wednesday.
The average for Tokyo over the past seven days stands at 523.1.
People in their 20s (207 cases), their 30s (155) and their 40s (95) accounted for the highest numbers.
The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 51, up four from Wednesday, health officials said. The nationwide figure is 517, down six from Wednesday.
Nationwide, the number of reported cases as of 6:30 p.m. was 1,751. After Tokyo, the prefectures with the most cases were Kanagawa (211), Saitama (142), Chiba (139), Osaka (108), Okinawa (63), Aichi (49), Hokkaido (39), Hyogo (32) and Shizuoka (37).
The number of coronavirus-related deaths reported nationwide was 24.
- External Link
- https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html
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Yubaru
Geez, and as the numbers climb in the "safe" place to hold the Olympics, the people are still getting sick!
nonu6976
up 103 from last Thursday.
Some dude
Fewer than yesterday but hardly cause for champagne.
If these numbers persist when Baron von Ripper-off comes next week, they’ll have to start sticking decimal points after the first or second figure to appease him.
”What do you mean by six point seven three? What is the point seven three?”
”Oh, that’s a foreigner. They don’t really count”.
Pim
Looks like it's going to hit 1,000 a day by the time the Games start.
Bach, Suga & Co. must be brainstorming their head off on how to justify keeping spectators in the stadium.
Expect some creativity.
TheDalaiLamasBifocals
I got my first shot yesterday.
It was a very efficient system.
Once the vaccination is in the hands of medical professionals, it speeds along.
Patrick
Reuters has a great data visualizer: https://graphics.reuters.com/world-coronavirus-tracker-and-maps/countries-and-territories/japan/
theResident
Ah, very true Zoroto. But hospitalisations are way down in UK and those that are in are mostly on oxygen therapy rather Ventilation. The link has been broken through vaccination and life is returning to normal.
Singapore are going to abandon the idea of eradication and stop publishing daily infection numbers. The Government there gas stated 'we will learn and have to live with Covid' - pursue 70-80% vaccination.
Sorry Zoroto - your hopes of despair are coming to a close.
I had my first shot today - In and out in 20 minutes. Impressed.
gakinotsukai
Unfortunately, you can use any visualization method you want, if the data source is tainted, you get a false perspective.
For exemple, the infections trend largely depends on the tests amount which is not stable and significant in Japan.
Jim
this is 103 more than last week - past 12 days continues to show increase from week prior
trend not looking good at all...
also on related news Samoa has withdrawn from participating in this Olympics (link below)
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/71e72ec983c66a3868a8a38356f2ac0b8073388e?tokyo2020
On another related news - already the athlete arrivals for Olympics has started in Tokyo - today (1 Jul) itself 134 athletes have arrived (link below) - not sure what it means when they continue to claim that athletes are allowed to enter 5 days prior to their event??
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/5f314fc97a17ac9a9f093bc3075c68d11952e189?tokyo2020
With the present Quasi SOE/Manbo - local Japanese people have given up and outside like normal plus new inbound foreign athletes, who will not be required to do 14 days quarantine - expect things to only escalate going forward....
Some dude
Bach, Suga & Co. must be brainstorming their head off on how to justify keeping spectators in the stadium.
More like:
Baron von R: “The contract favors us. Hold the games at full capacity and make sure the TV cameras don’t miss a minute”.
J-govt: “Yes, sir”.
Antiquesaving
Well on the 28th 10,000 dropped to 7,900 on the 29th so yes if they go as usual we will see a 20% to 30% in testing.
So between 5,000 and 6,000 and that would be in line 5the infection rate of 7% to 10% we have seen since last week.
And no the Tokyo government site says 7 day infection rate is 5.1% but anyone with a calculator can do the math and it isn't even close to 5%, so where they get 5% from is a mystery.
theResident
You just hate the fact there might be some good news around the corner - even if its 2-3 months away, don't you Mr Z?
theResident
The obsession with rate of infection is well documented as being rubbish.
Tokyo - at best ONLY test people with very obvious symptoms.
UK Schoolchildren have to do tests AND report online 2-3 times a week which of course leads to very high numbers.
LEARN TO LIVE WITH IT.
Antiquesaving
@theResident
I am over 55, my ward only opened up vaccination to 55 and up on Monday, the best I could get was July 29th for my first shot, my wife is under 55 and cannot even book an appointment for another 2 weeks, by that time appointments will be into October.
I know plenty in the same situation.
Despite the central government saying vaccination is open to all each prefecture, each city each ward is doing as they please.
Mass vaccination centre is according to their website no longer taking first shot appointment's and by the time we got our vouchers it was to late.
theResident
as I said - better news in 2-3 months.
Tell_me_bout_it
That room, those chairs, those instructions on the chairs...look so depressing.
Cant wait to see what kind of bs they come up with to go on with the olympics.
Sven Asai
You surely know that standard slot machines only have three wheels, so sorry, but there’s no leading forth digit today. lol
ian
Need only to vaccinate the elderly and other high risk groups for mortality to fall significantly.
For the elderly the target is end of this month
Some dude
I am over 55, my ward only opened up vaccination to 55 and up on Monday, the best I could get was July 29th for my first shot, my wife is under 55 and cannot even book an appointment for another 2 weeks, by that time appointments will be into October.
I took a close look at he instructions for my area today. Basically, it states that applications begin from today, July 1. However, priority goes to the elderly and those with medical issues, and I fall into neither of those. That’s perfectly understandable and I agree with it. The kicker is that the papers say, in essence “as for the rest of you, keep an eye on the website to find out when you get a chance”.
In other words, I literally don’t know when I will be able to apply. Not particularly reassuring. I am fortunate to be working from home, so when the games roll around I will just do a two week hikkikomori, but the potential fallout post-Olympics may make Tokyo a hot zone, so I’ll still have to be careful until my ward is magnanimous enough to let us know when we can get our shots.
carpslidy
15,000,000 fully vaccinated
15,000,000 one shot
Things are looking up.
falseflagsteve
TheResident
You are correct in your comments. The vaccines will reduce cases with severe symptoms and also death considerably.The falling severe cases we see give testament to that fact too.
Antiquesaving
Wait haven't we been hearing that for 6 months now at least?
And in 2 or 3 months will will hear the same thing again!
diobrando
A futur big gift for Bach....by the way, why authorities are quiet about new types such as indian one?
didou
During the Olympics, athletes will be tested everyday. The number of tests should peak during that period.
Thanks everyone in Tokyo Government to keep the capacity for the event period.
I
carpslidy
Some people like being sad, I guess.
Some dude
Wait haven't we been hearing that for 6 months now at least?
And in 2 or 3 months will will hear the same thing again!
Its like hearing religious people predicting that their chosen nonexistent entity will return every time there’s a weird-colored moon.
”Just you wait! Next time! You’ll be sorry!”
(This will likely get removed for being of topic as the mods seem to have great trouble with allegories and other such figures of speech).
tooheysnew
the Debbie Downers here downvote anything remotely positive & uplifting.
they’ll be heartbroken when this pandemic is over
Antiquesaving
Now for a dose of reality.
27 million out of a population of 36 Million Canadians have recieved at least one dose, 11 million 2 doses.
Now go see how many cases of covid there are still over 500 new cases a day.
Japan does far less testing, has far less of the population Vaccinated and a far larger and older population.
The Vaccine helps no doubt but it isn't a magic bullet and still far to many not vaccinated yet.
ian
They've been predicting the apocalypse since this thing started, more than a year and a half now.
Most probably they cheered secretly when the decision for the Olympics to push thru has been made, it's the biggest chance for their wishes/predictions to come true
theResident
You're right. There aren't enough vaccinated yet. Far from it.
But it is a magic bullet.
carpslidy
StillMove
I know I speak for most “Debbie downers” when I say we are as eager as you to see the pandemic over. But it’s the pragmatist in us that recognizes it’s still too early for Japan to schedule the metaphorical victory parade.
Patrick
Most everyone here will agree that testing in Japan is low, as is the current tax rate... so maybe if you add vaccinations to the immunity of x_thousand (million) people who've had COVID and survived... is a huge number?
Speculation is fun!
Antiquesaving
No one has been predicting anything other than the group going " covid numbers are down its best, over soon" for the past 6 months.
What people are saying is we live in reality, not fantasy, when numbers go up despite Seriously low testing,
People cannot go around saying silly things like covid is beaten, because one day the numbers go down by a fraction of what they went up the days before.
And constantly dismissing infection rates as if they have no use.
Hint, if infection rates had no bearing on the situation then they would not be included in every site every statistic including the Japanese government's own information and websites.
Tora
That is until the next variant that is vaccine resistant, or when your vaccine wears off....
We will all have to be revaccinated to deal with the next one in six months time, and then the process repeats.
Welcome to the new world.
Sven Asai
Feel free to predict the end of it all and full normality for tomorrow morning at 6:25.58 or so.
gakinotsukai
The only guy who predicted something is Abe in May 2020 claiming the japanese model has beaten the covid.
didou
In my city, only those over 65 got their coupon, and their 2nd shot is done now.
cleo
They're only allowed into the Olympic Village (with its cardboard beds) 5 days before their event; they're allowed, nay expected, to disperse all over the country to their various Host Towns for weeks of training and preparation before that.
theResident
@Tora. Yes, we will in all likelihood need a booster shot. There will be more mutant strains. The quicker we vaccinate the quicker we shut it down and that IS without argument happening pretty much everywhere now. Eradication is impossible. Governments have changed their policies worldwide in acceptance of that. What would you have us do? Lockdown and live with restrictions forever. Australia might, very unfortunately just be starting their road down to where the rest of us have been. Their closed door policy was correct, and worked for 2020 but is now failing. No one has been exposed to Covid basically AND very few are vaccinated. It's clearly NOT the answer for 2021.
as_the_crow_flies
Japan now 72nd in the world for vaccinations, and according to the World Vaccination Tracker, only 12% are fully vaccinated. We know that means, given the lack of time, only a tiny percentage will be fully vaccinated before tens and tens of thousands of people start moving around in the lead up to the games. Thing is, none of the countries ahead of or behind Japan in this vaccination derby are planning to have a superspreader event in the next 3 weeks, many have strict border controls, test, trace and isolation systems, and do not have nearly as many elderly and vulnerable people concentrated in one densely populated central area as Japan. And many are not hobbled by a government propaganda department churning out daily happy claptrap and puff pieces to drown out the voices of science. Despite all of this effort to brush Covid under the rug, a clear majority of the population doesn't want the games to go ahead now.
menov
It's good news that the number of Corona-related deaths keeps getting lower.
The numbers for the hospitalised stay steady for the past two or three weeks, which is a good sign, even with the SOE lifted it didn't go up.
Hopefully with the vaccination rollout we will get to zero very soon.
oldman_13
673 cases? That's nothing, open up Japan.
theResident
as_the_crow_flies: No country AHEAD of Japan with Vaccinations is planning to host a super spreader event? Euro 2020 has clearly passed you by? Have you not seen the 100% full stadium in Budapest just as an example ? With all the support staff, Broadcast Staff, Press??? I think you do protest too much.
bokuda
Keep in mind that only a few people can get a certified PCR test in Japan.
Most of us will never reach to that list no matter how sick we get.
In one word: Japan is undertesting.
theResident
Japan is undertesting, that's bloody obvious mate. There are however many countries wasting money OVER testing also. At this point in time, that is time and money that could be better spent elsewhere.
Antiquesaving
Because the infection rates had dropped before,
I know you were explained this before and I know you actually know it but for some reason like to ignore facts.
When the cases were low hospitalisation was high because previous cases were high, cases went down slowly hospitalization went down in the following weeks
Now cases are back up and in the following weeks hospitalisation will again head up.
This has been the pattern since the start of covid.
But you know that.
n1k1
Hmm.. but how many 65+ ? There should be a visible drop in that age group .
Antiquesaving
Oh please! Japan blew far more to keep the Olympics a thing.
It could have scrapped the Olympics and taken proper care of the people.
Like helping businesses pay to keep their employees, testing, proper vaccination system and faster approval.
For months we heard the fake excuse that there weren't enough doctors, etc..
But in a week corporations not only found doctors but secured facilities, equipment and started vaccinating their workers.
It seems they didn't have a problem with shortages.
Anyone trying to say Japan did well or is doing well has been going out of their way to not see how much better other developed countries have done.
But I know the comeback, look at the deaths, well we can't because they tested and did autopsies so the other countries know the actual numbers, Japan didn't test didn't require autopsies, so in reality we have no idea but unless you subscribe to the Japanese are a special breed of humans not affected by covid, the number just don't pass the logic test.
Antiquesaving
@Ashley Shiba
Using Australia New Zealand or the USA ( previously under the old administration) as examples or for comparison is taking the lowest of the low and say. " Look we are better than that"
Compare to other western countries that used their heads and got the vaccine out fast.
A simple look at Canada 27 million out of 37 million have at least one dose 11 million are fully vaccinated!
And a country with some major logistic hurdles to deal with.
kaimycahl
In the mean while Los Angles opened up as as the city opened up the number of covid cases ticked up!! This is nothing but a sleeper virus just when you think its gone it will come back like Jason only it will be more contagious and deadly!!! Money over lives that is the object of desire.
falseflagsteve
We seem to have some here unaware of the difference the vaccines will make on hospitalised people and deaths. Rising cases does not mean higher severe cases now the vaccine is being rolled out to the vulnerable. The numbers in my home country the U.K. reflect this perfectly.
Kobe White Bar Owner
Olympia variant coming to a town near you! Thanks to human greed plan and simple.
Tora
Yeah, on the Olympics, or armaments; or Sakura parties for politicians; or pointless white elephant public works projects and other graft. But definitely not much on the people.
Cognac
I give you an upvote as most of the positive comments :)
almostshat
Here in the UK 15% of the Scotland fans who came down to London for the Euros match against England have tested positive on their return home. Any superspreader sports events on the horizon in Japan?
Vinke
almostshat
Genuinely asking:
How were the restrictions at the match/stadium like, how about pubs, trains, buses, and whatnot?
How many people (rough %) wear/wore masks?
Tokyoite
A point worth noting.
Although, I'm not sure the way the Scotland fans acted on the weekend of the England game will be replicated by the Japanese Olympic fans. I suspect not.
Raw Beer
Yes! So I expect the actual infection rate in Japan to be much higher than the confirmed infection rate; i.e., more of us are already immune to this virus than we think.
And people should ask themselves whether it's worth risking your life/health with these investigational vaccines for something that has only a 0.05-0.1% chance of killing you. And that's the overall rate, it's much lower for younger people....
Ioannidis is a top epidemiologist, but of course he is attacked by pharma-backed people who don't like his conclusions.
Tokyoite
Great start if true. However still incredibly slow when compared to other modern countries.
What's your source?
Tora
Here in the UK 15% of the Scotland fans who came down to London for the Euros match against England have tested positive on their return home. Any superspreader sports events on the horizon in Japan?
Nah, they just won't test any fans, unless they have severe respiratory issues. There is absolutely no way any fans will be tested at all, even if they come into direct contact with somebody with Covid. So we will never know how many are infected will we? You just can't compare the UK and elsewhere where they have mass testing.
Antiquesaving
And the UK has 84% at least one dose and 62% 2 doses
The Olympics are going to be a blast with the multiple holidays scheduled and a vaccination rate of just over 12% having a single dose and another 12% both doses and at the present vaccination rate another 25 days to vaccinate another 10% with one dose ( that could be shot number 1 or number 2 we are looking at at best 35% with at least one dose by the time the Olympics start.
Now everyone think about that!
I know that within my close family we are 9 and by the start of the Olympics only 3 will have had any vaccine, 2 fully 1 will have had one dose!
virusrex
You have been saying that since summer of last year, the never ending number of cases up until today can evidence that your expectations are more wishful thinking than a a realistic forecast. Vaccination is a much more likely source of population immunity, and much safer. That is why even now the experts and professionals recommend it instead of blindly assuming people might be immune.
An do you know what is even much much lower than that rate? the complications and deaths actually related to the vaccines, there is no group of people for which the vaccine is more dangerous than the disease.
Precisely because he was a well recognized epidemiologist is why his terrible report, already proven false was so heavily criticized. And not by people with any kind of economic interest but from scientists from all kinds of backgrounds and origins, including many that have no profit to make from any pharmaceutical company.
The most important part? he has already been proved wrong, and the criticisms of his work are valid and objective.
Leeroy
I'm in Australia I'm 45 years old no health problems and get my 2nd Pfizer next week. I wanted it as quick as possible so I can head back to Japan when borders open up more. We have had slow take up of people wanting to get the vaccinations in Australia because we have hardly any covid around. Government wants 0 covid cases until we have approx 80% vaccination of the population, It's a catch 22.
as_the_crow_flies
"@heResident:
You're right there, they did pass me by! I don't really follow the footie. Time I wrote the above, I hadn't read about it. Thanks for pointing out yet another example that Japan could do with studying, but won't. And you're right that it turns out Japan doesn't have a monopoly on stupid. In fact, journalists Marina Hyde's comments on the double standards for big and little people for the Uefa Cup could equally apply to what's happening here.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/jun/22/uefa-variant-boris-johnsons-england-self-isolation
But to your last point, just because politicians around the other side are also behaving like a bunch of pr"ckz doesn't change the fact that doing the same here is a really bad idea. What's the old saying, two wrongs don't make a right?
Doc
Yes, of course. So instead of blindly assuming people might be immune, let’s indiscriminately inoculate every demographic with an EUA gene therapy and blindly assume there are no long term side effects.
Assuming the short term side effects are negligible for you.
carpslidy
TokyoiteJuly 1 09:45 pm JST
Yahoonews.co.jp
virusrex
Imaginary evidence is not an argument, where is the data that proves so? Specifically data that shows more problems in that population caused by the vaccine.
For a therapy being used for much longer than COVID have been infecting humans? sure, specially because the option is to blindly assume there is no long term effects of the infection, something that is already false because COVID have produced long term problems, even permanent ones. Are those negligible for you?
Leo
Very low compared to the US and India.
sf2k
why are there so many empty chairs, then this group all sitting together??
Doc
The number of deaths and serious illness for the under 20 yr old age demographic in Japan as a result of Covid-19 is Zero . And that’s the nearly the same in most other countries. There is your data.
Where is the Emergency???? Why an Experimental vaccine or EUA status.
You say you have data stating otherwise. Then show it. You never do.
That is a ridiculous statement. Never in our history have we deployed an Experimental gene therapy treatment under an EUA banner on the general public . In fact, if it was a therapy that has been used so long and successfully proven out, it would have been fully approved. The vaccine’s very classification as EUA discredits your statement automatically.
You blindly assume that there is long term effects of the infection. And you support administering a potentially harmful experimental vaccine on a massive scale because you also blindly assume there is no long term side effects. I suggest you read the vaccine company websites more carefully. Even they don’t assume that.
This has been a sponsored Big Pharma debacle.
virusrex
And how is zero problems "more problems" than zero problems? That is what I specifically said there is no information that could prove.
To reduce it, you need evidence that vaccines causes more problems than the disease, without it you are still talking about imaginary facts that are not a valid argument.
If health experts, parents do say their specially vulnerable children are at a very high risk of complications and death from COVID and that would greatly benefit from a vaccine that would make less necessary very heavy measures that now they have to use to prevent infection that is reason enough to let them be vaccinated, you yourself said so, until you contradicted yourself.
It seems that you are not familiar with the terms you want to use, none of the vaccines is in any way gene therapy, if anything previous vaccines with attenuated viruses would be much more of one, because they include genetic replication. Hundreds of clinical trials have already been published without any side effect attributed to the technology, against that we have the well described permanent problems that can happen with COVID, unless you can at least prove those problems happen with the vaccine the only logical conclusion is that the vaccines have less risks of causing those (because anything is less 100%).
Not blindly, they have already been proved, well described and characterized, trying to ignore them is not valid either. And the risk is higher than more will be identified in the future. Again, COVID represent higher risks than the vaccine even for long term problems, there is no need to assume zero problems for the vaccines to conclude this.
Since vaccines represent a net loss of profit for the industry in general (just see the average cost of a hospital stay for COVID) your argument works much better in the opposite way, it would be much more profitable if more people rejected the vaccines, even if irrationally.
That would be if there was actual proof of anything of the sort, not just imaginary conspiracies without any evidence.
GdTokyo
The definition of insanity is hitting your head against the wall again and again and expecting a different result.
The SOE has too many loop-holes. The virus is spreading freely in the general population. Vaccinations are lagging (although the private sector is stepping in rapidly. My wife's company is vaccinating my family beginning on 7/10).
You lift the SOE on a largely unvaccinated population and the number of cases rises. What part of this is hard for the government to realize?
Raw Beer
Your point is only valid if you have an oversimplified view and assume that everything medically related is one entity. How much of the cost for that hospital stay goes to Pfizer? I suspect not much. I guess one exception could be if the patient is treated in hospital with the expensive, ineffective, and toxic Remdesivir, then indeed it would be profitable for Gilead.
This has been a sponsored Big Pharma debacle.
virusrex
On the contrary, that is the requirement for the global conspiracy theory. That absolutely require that everything is treated as a huge monolitic entity that can completely suppress evidence of effective drugs in all laboratories and hospitals of the world, no matter what kind of funding they have, or from which company (if any).
So, if many huge companies are losing billions because one single drug and bribe everybody involved in their research to somehow get the same negative results, how come they can't do the same against Pfizer? I mean, it would be much easier because according to the conspiracy there would not even be need to fake any data, just report the actual terrible results the vaccination supposedly have.
In reality this is not a credible scenario no matter how it is twisted or misrepresented. As long as you use the "Big Pharma" card that means vaccines are the less profitable option.
theResident
@Raw Beer : Just please look at the minimal UK hospitalizations since the Vaccines have had time to get into the system. You really really believe that the Governments of the World chose expensive Vaccinations over cheap drugs like Ivermectin which you crazily support. They didn't work.. None of your crazy ideas worked.
Vaccines have broken the chain between Covid and Death and almost certainly transmission to an extent.
Had my first shot. Second booked. I am 42 days away from having some decent protection, on a possible road to travel without Quarantine, not having to overthink every situation in a crowded area.
Bert Smithson
I think the Aussies are doing a good job. They have 24% of their population vaccinated and climbing rapidly. Also, they arent doing major lock downs. Seems to be a good mix to me.
Raw Beer
@theResident
Why do you assume the decrease in cases is due primarily to the vaccines. One could say the same about Israel, which had an aggressive vaccination campaign with a big decrease in cases. But looking at nearby Jordan we could see an almost identical decrease in cases with less than a fifth of the Israeli vaccination rate. And as I posted on another thread, according to official data from Public Health England, of the people who caught the Delta variant in recent months, 0.64% of those who were fully vaccinated died, while only 0.096% of the unvaccinated died. So you shouldn't be too confident after you get your 2nd shot.
Oh, Ivermectin does work, and so does HCQ+azythromycin. We'll see in the end whose ideas are crazy...
almostshat
Genuinely asking:
How were the restrictions at the match/stadium like, how about pubs, trains, buses, and whatnot?
How many people (rough %) wear/wore masks?
Vinke san, the England - Scotland game was a perfect storm of Covid spreading possibilities. An age old rivalry between two teams that drew thousands of Scots to London, even those without tickets, who just wanted to soak up the atmosphere and get rat - arsed in Leicester Square, after a year of being cooped up. English fans too. Football plus summer = booze, crowds, mayhem. All social distancing out the window. Impossible to 'control'. England - Germany game was even more insane. And god only knows what will happen if we (England) beat Ukraine on Saturday and are back at Wembley for the semi final. Pandemonium. 3rd wave already well underway in the UK in spite of vaccinations. You can't control joy, excitement, celebration, drunkenness, mass hysteria.
Fortunately for those in Japan, I can't foresee much of that happening during the Olympics.
theResident
@Raw Beer: You are totally ignoring the fact that Vaccines are keeping people out of hospital and from dying. Fact. Infection Rate in UK... High. Those now in ICU.. Low.
Anonymist
I’ve never posted before but I felt inclined to on this occasion because there’s something interesting occurring here that I’ve started to notice in my daily life.
‘The Resident’ has said that things are looking up and with enough vaccinations, things could be looking much better in a few months, but has been heavily downvoted and ripped for this. I’m not sure why?!
The data out of the U.K. shows that the vaccines have caused a disconnect between the number of cases and the number of hospitalisations/deaths. They’re experiencing a full-blown third wave of the Delta variant no less, but with only half of the population fully vaxxed, the trends look like this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/may/28/covid-uk-coronavirus-cases-deaths-and-vaccinations-today
I get the trepidation given that the vaccine rollout didn’t get off to the best start here (to put it mildly), but for the last three or four weeks, Japan has been giving a million or more shots per day:
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/special/coronavirus/vaccine/progress/
So given the increasingly rapid rollout here and the ability of vaccines to keep people out of the hospital and especially the cemetery, what’s wrong with saying that things will be looking much better in a few months? Where’s the harm in a bit of optimism?
Singapore has even begun to stop looking at raw case numbers and only count the serious cases. That sounds like it would be a sensible move in future as again, vaccines render the virus much less of a threat (even against the Delta variant). Therefore knowing the number of cases will be less relevant.
So we’re not out of the woods just yet and we need to be cautious, but I feel like in the not too distant future, we could get back to our normal lives (or something very similar).
Waywardnihon
Honestly, if you ignore all the conspiratorial thinking and just take a macro look at the reported statistics since the beginning of the pandemic, the Japanese model has failed. Every wave peaks higher and leads to a higher total in the trough, whether looking at cases or deaths. It has never improved, and focusing on the number difference between peaks and troughs is misleading.
I genuinely hope vaccinations will break this pattern, but there is no statistic evidence that this has happened or is happening in Japan.
I suggest toyokezai to see the overall trend from early last year.
theResident
@Waywardnihon: No, and there won't be any evidence of how Vaccines are breaking the chain for another 2 months in Japan. That much should be obvious. Until you are in full swing and count the days there cannot be any evidence. Let's look again early September. If the rate of hospitalizations are down the proof is in the pudding.
The conspiracy theorists on this website (@Raw Beer for example) will be consigned to history.
Their argument is that these vaccines are experimental (true), but how did we rid the world of Smallpox and Polio WITHOUT experimental vaccines?
Wick's pencil
Did you bother reading Raw Beer's post?
Chico3
I see a lot of empty seats. So much for Suga's one million vaccinations a day.