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Tokyo reports 2,001 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 7,133

42 Comments

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Friday reported 2,001 new cases of the coronavirus, up 499 from Thursday. The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 82,069.

The number is the result of 17,000 tests conducted on Jan 12.

By age group, the most number of cases were people in their 20s (458), followed by 355 in their 30s, 303 in their 40s, 297 in their 50s, 152 in their 60s and 132 in their 70s. Also, 173 cases were younger than 20 (65 younger than 10), health officials said.

The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 133, down two from Thursday, health officials said. The nationwide figure is 934.

Nationwide, the number of reported cases was 7,085. After Tokyo, the prefectures with the most cases were Kanagawa (872), Osaka (568), Chiba (504), Saitama (490), Fukuoka (361), Aichi (352), Hyogo (277), Hokkaido (202), Ibaraki (159), Kyoto (120), Tochigi (96), Shizuoka (90), Gunma (80), Gifu (78), Okinawa (74), Kumamoto (70), Miyagi (52) and Miyazaki (46).

Seventy-eight coronavirus-related deaths were reported.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

42 Comments
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I don't believe these numbers at all. So for the previous few days the rate is 30%-50% positivity for only 2000 to 3000 tests, but suddenly when it's 17000 tests the rate drops to 11%? Bullocks!

20 ( +28 / -8 )

I don't believe these numbers at all. So for the previous few days the rate is 30%-50% positivity for only 2000 to 3000 tests, but suddenly when it's 17000 tests the rate drops to 11%? Bullocks!

Is completely inside what would be expected according to the terrible testing strategy followed in Japan.

If every testing site is open every day of the week you would observe much more stable numbers, but since Japan behaves like a developing country in this aspect it closes most of the places where you can be tested on weekends and holidays. So only those people with extremely heavy suspicion of disease will be tested then (patients with heavy respiratory difficulty, symptomatic close contacts of a confirmed case, etc.), those with relatively low chances of being positive will simply wait until the next weekday (in this case January 12) so they will only need to go to a much more convenient testing place.

Result? people likely to be negative will not be tested on holidays and weekends, so the percentage of positivity increases; and the next work day the opposite happen.

14 ( +22 / -8 )

The number if tests increases 5 fold, but the number of positives remains the same. Anyone who believes this needs to take a beginners class in statistical probability.

13 ( +17 / -4 )

Regardless of how one "feels" about the numbers there is a very serious discrepancy which requires explanation.

January 11, 2021 (reported Jan. 14): Total tests performed = 3,849 and total positive tests = 1,502: 39% of tests are positive

January 12, 2021 (reported Jan 15): Total tests performed =17,000 and total positive tests = 2,001: 11.8% of tests are positive.

A possible explanatoin would be less tests performed on the National Holiday (Jan. 11) and those tests were limited to only those showing severe symptoms or with close contact to known infected people but that information is missing from the article.

Lacking that specific informatoin it is necessary to call these numbers into question and ask the hard question.....why the significant difference?

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Anyone who thinks the situation is getting better is either ignorant or living in complete denial, or worse. If you have any doubts about how bad things are and could get in the weeks to come, please read this article on Mainichi - https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20210115/p2a/00m/0na/006000c

The fact is that stricter measures are required and the Govt needs to appropriately compensate individuals and businesses adversely affected by such measures. Meanwhile, they really need to speed up the vaccination process... it's shameful that such a developed country is lagging behind so miserably in this regard....

9 ( +12 / -3 )

your logic is flawed - even if it is more likely that positive cases will be tested during holidays, that would only explain an increase in positivity rate. It does not explain why the amount of positive people remain the same when 5 times as many people are being tested on normal weekdays. Its not like in the weekend, really sick people are asking for tests, and during normal weekdays they suddenly stop calling.

Again, assuming there is a stable number of "high risk" people, those people will keep being tested every day even on holidays. What accumulates over weekends and holidays are the "low risk" people, that are very unlikely to actually be positive on the test.

Let me put a simple example using round numbers.

Lets assume 75% of the "heavy risk" patients are positive, and only 5% of "low risk" patients will be positive.

Friday, 2,000 heavy risk and 6,000 low risk people are tested, results? 1,800positives. a 26% rate.

Saturday 2,000 heavy risk and 2,000 low risk people tested, 1,600 positives, a 40% rate.

Sunday, 2,000 heavy risk and only 1,000 low risk, 1,550 positives, a 51.7% rate.

Monday, 2,000 heavy risk and 10,000 are low risk (counting for accumulation), 2000 positives 16.7% rate.

As you can see the total number of people tested increase a lot the next working day, but the total number of positives increase much less importantly proportionally. This is what is observed in Japan.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

The Japanese govt. is doing a fabulous job. Let the professionals decide how to do this and not the Sky IS Falling public.

Thanks-I had a great laugh!

8 ( +8 / -0 )

Unlike some, I do not gloat in the misery of people especially Japanese in Japan.

However, the government of Japan is reaping what it sowed in its lackluster responses to the coronavirus from the very beginnings of the pandemic to now.

6 ( +13 / -7 )

Doesn't sound right.

The % of positives goes up and down as a penny stock.

And 17,000 tests, such a round number, very handy. I might be wrong but its unusual.

Anyway, hope to see the number of tests increasing, so we can understand a bit better what is really going on in Tokyo.

Would be great to have mass testing as Hiroshima is about to do. Then we would finally all stop speculating about how spread this virus is around here and know the real numbers.

Will wait and see.

Im the meanwhile, will keep doing my best to avoid getting infected, as everyone should do.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

A possible explanatoin would be less tests performed on the National Holiday (Jan. 11) and those tests were limited to only those showing severe symptoms or with close contact to known infected people but that information is missing from the article.

For me that is the most likely scenario. Because you would need to be in a pretty dire state to go queue up at the few open clinics on a holiday. You might even have to call an ambulance and have them find you a hospital. Most Japanese have gone their whole life thinking they have to wait till the next non-holiday to go see a doctor, and aren't even aware of any clinics that are open on weekends/holidays.

The news/media should strive to confirm this and explain to the public. But they aren't called "garbage" for nothing, after all.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

The more you test, the more you know the severity of the problem. It would be interesting to see if stringent testing restrictions are relaxed.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

SandyBeachHeaven: "Requests are not law but I totally agree with the suggestions."

If you agree with the suggestions, why were you out for lunch when the government has suggested you don't do that? The people who claim to follow the suggestions but actually don't at all are the problem, and the reason why we need stricter measures and far more testing. The Japanese government has failed in EVERY respect on the virus, from the initial allowing in of infected people from Wuhan and just asking them to go home via public transit, to the Diamond Princess disaster, to announcing no vaccines until the end of March (then 'sped it up' to February).

Now, even the government at top levels is being told by the medical industry and businesses is far too slow, and the State of Emergency has zero meaning, with people not at all caring.

4 ( +9 / -5 )

At least the number of tests was higher, still short of the figures Koike was spouting last year.

There is a balance, but whichever way you slice it, testing numbers are too low.

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

Testing rates per country toward the right of the chart.

In absolute cases, you will see Japan at 40, I think...

2 ( +4 / -2 )

at SandyBeachHeaven

@Virusrex: Once again you are correct. So glad to see a similarly educated person here like myself and family.

You concur with the view that the result is "completely inside what would be expected according to the terrible testing strategy followed in Japan"?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

yeah always when percentage of positive tests are high, they just increase the number of test next day...

The previous day was from Monday, a holiday. How many times does this need to be explained here?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

What should be the expected number of cases today then?

work it out yourself.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Based on serious cases it seems Osaka is suffering more than Tokyo.

Indeed.

The death rate in Osaka is about 2%. Hyogo too.

The death rate in Tokyo is a little less than 1%.

Actually, as of yesterday Osaka has as many total deaths as Tokyo, even though Tokyo has more than twice the total number of cases as Osaka.

Every other prefecture (with a sizable case total) averages about 1 - 1.5%, except in Hokkaido, where the death rate is about 3.5%. Ouch.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

And the Olympics will go on.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Therougou... This is exactly what happened!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Look, none of this is going to work, so don't worry about it.

Bureaucrats, politicians, public health people are incompetent and people will continue to share the gift of Covid in packed trains, offices, stores, restaurants, izakayas and on the street.

This pandemic will continue for a couple more years. Many more people will die and survivors of symptomatic effects will have lung issues and other long-lasting symptoms.

Just accept it. You can only try to take care of yourself.

Even after being inoculated, it will take about 6 weeks for the body to develop the full antibody resistance.

Even after being inoculated, people will have a greatly reduced chance of developing symptoms, but will still be capable of shedding the virus to others. Those vaccinated will still need to wear masks and and stay away from others until the rest of the population is vaccinated. People aren't likely to do that.

They're going to think that vaccination made them and others safe, but that is not the case.

So, just accept you're going to have a crappy life and economy for years. Complaining won't change this outcome.

The people who refuse to vaccinate and refuse to wear masks and keep distance will just extend the pandemic for years until almost everyone has caught it. But, natural immunity appears to only last about 6 months after infection.

The antisocial, ganko types (like in the west) who refuse to wear masks are going to keep their entire society under the foot of Covid for years.

You have to wear a mask and keep distance. One without the other is useless.

It's interesting that contact tracing has fallen between the cracks. The purpose is to learn where people are catching it. You can search and search and not find data on where people are getting infected. most of it is just speculation.

Obviously, it's everywhere - stores, restaurants, schools, trains, bars, churches (in the west). I've been lucky and not caught it even though I'm in one of the worst areas on the planet that's filled with idiots who think not wearing a mask is a sign of their Trump cult membership.

But, I don't eat in restaurants, don't go to bars, only shop when there are the fewest people, and I stay far away from them and wash my hands and drop my clothes in the washer after being outside. People are overrated anyway. I don't need them anymore.

In summary, we're screwed for the next few years. Accept it so you're not constantly let down and hopefully find a life that you can survive within. Stupid people will be affecting more life more than usual in the next few years.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

PLEASE shut down.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I agree Reckless.

Highest test amount ever!

0 ( +14 / -14 )

Nice number.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

The death rate in Osaka is about 2%. Hyogo too.

The death rate in Tokyo is a little less than 1%.

Actually, as of yesterday Osaka has as many total deaths as Tokyo, even though Tokyo has more than twice the total number of cases as Osaka.

Sometime ago SDF already sent nurses to Osaka and Hokkaido to help out due to lack of personnel.

Tokyo healthcare probably still isnt as strained as Osaka's

0 ( +6 / -6 )

It is the winter effect. People staying indoor more often.

What's the panic about?

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Tokyo-EngrToday 04:10 pm JST

Regardless of how one "feels" about the numbers there is a very serious discrepancy which requires explanation.

January 11, 2021 (reported Jan. 14): Total tests performed = 3,849 and total positive tests = 1,502: 39% of tests are positive

January 12, 2021 (reported Jan 15): Total tests performed =17,000 and total positive tests = 2,001: 11.8% of tests are positive.

Do like Japanese. Do not ask questions. It will save you day

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

oldman_13Today  04:02 pm JST

Unlike some, I do not gloat in the misery of people especially Japanese in Japan.

However, the government of Japan is reaping what it sowed in its lackluster responses to the coronavirus from the very beginnings of the pandemic to now.

I gave you a thumbs up, but that's not the whole picture and it's not just the government reaping what is sown ... unfortunately.

-3 ( +0 / -3 )

yeah always when percentage of positive tests are high, they just increase the number of test next day...

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

work it out yourself.

Already did hahaha

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

I have no symptoms but I’m going to get me a cpr test tomorrow you can include me in the number of test count for Japan

-6 ( +2 / -8 )

Thumbs up and agree with Mr. Kipling.

The suggestions by the govt. do not say do not go out to eat lunch with your kids.

So I am following the rules and supporting businesses. Not sure why anyone would open a restaurant now, but I try to help them out. We are very cautious and not sloppiness on health protocols.

Nearest person sitting and supporting the restaurant was 5 meters away.

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

@virusrex,

your logic is flawed - even if it is more likely that positive cases will be tested during holidays, that would only explain an increase in positivity rate. It does not explain why the amount of positive people remain the same when 5 times as many people are being tested on normal weekdays. Its not like in the weekend, really sick people are asking for tests, and during normal weekdays they suddenly stop calling.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

The number if tests increases 5 fold, but the number of positives remains the same. Anyone who believes this needs to take a beginners class in statistical probability.

What should be the expected number of cases today then?

-11 ( +3 / -14 )

@Tokyo-Engr:

Totally agreed with your last paragraph.

My question always and to Japanese doctor friends is what were the results of the non-covid positive patients that warranted a checkup and they are stumped and do not know. What did they have? Flu, Cold, Herpes Outbreak, Pneumonia? No answers. Perhaps the JT moderators can give us a link? They are pretty up on this stuff constantly perusing news sites.

-19 ( +1 / -20 )

@nonu6976

This phenomen is already since the beginning of the Pandemic.

Yesterday many posters here scream; Wow, almost 50%.

Because it is fear mongering, they appear.

Today you will not see anyone of them.

For me, I take these reported numbers just as a guideline.

-21 ( +6 / -27 )

@Virusrex: Once again you are correct. So glad to see a similarly educated person here like myself and family. It is all stats.

Just got back from a new restaurant in my town. 3:20 pm. We wanted to give them support. We even only chatted to each other by text with masks on but ordered food vocally is hushed voices.

We dropped our masks when tasting the excellent dishes in front of us.

I totally follow the rules as the govt. requests. I am not bragging nor wagging my tail and toungue. Businesses need our support. Requests are not law but I totally agree with the suggestions.

I have been told I am arrogant and blatantly breaking the rules. I am not at all. I am a hand washing freak as are the members of my family.

And yes, three ambulances today during my walk. Not sure of one but the other two were for a bad drivier zipping through a stop sign. It was not pretty.

17,000 tests and only 2000 proved positive. This is proof that paranoi and testing are working hand in hand. Think of the costs of the testing and man hours on testing of those that did not need it.

The Japanese govt. is doing a fabulous job. Let the professionals decide how to do this and not the Sky IS Falling public.

I hope i have not offended anyone and if I did, I am humbly sorry and you can give me hate comments and I accept them. I do not come here to fight but to show logic and resilience.

-31 ( +5 / -36 )

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