national

Tokyo reports 78 new coronavirus cases

20 Comments

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government on Monday reported 78 new cases of the coronavirus, down 54 from Sunday. The number is the result of 2,586 tests conducted on Oct 16.

The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 29,046.

The number of infected people in Tokyo with severe symptoms is 24, unchanged from Sunday, health officials said.


© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

20 Comments
Login to comment

No doubt we'll see some comments about the lack of testing and doubting the figures. 78 infections is a good sign but no doubt we'll see larger numbers during the week.

-5 ( +14 / -19 )

good

-8 ( +7 / -15 )

They did 6,000 Tests the other day and came up with nearly 300 new cases. This number seems pretty much on par with the norm. No need to get excited about it. It just proves that fewer tests equals fewer new cases. Great for the media, but that’s all.

5 ( +13 / -8 )

How is this top news everyday?

-9 ( +6 / -15 )

The total number of deaths in Japan, from January to July, are less than for the same period last year.

I am always somewhat bemused by statements like this which seem to use the spurious logic that, because the SOE, global travel bans, near ubiquitous mask use and general high level of prevention undertaken in Japan has successfully kept the death rate low (as well as had a major impact on many other causes of death, for example traffic accidents, influenza deaths, and more), somehow those very measures were and are unnecessary. The death rate is low because of those actions. It does not prove the virus is not a threat.

As an aside, here is an article on the death rates in Japan for this year through July, which has some speculative discussion as to why this is:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201012/p2a/00m/0na/013000c

5 ( +10 / -5 )

Zichi, been a while hope your back to full health.

The mortality rate proves three things,

One Japan isn't hiding deaths as some have claimed or putting corona deaths down to influenza.

Two, masks are effective

Three, Japan should continue lifting restrictions gradually while monitoring deaths and hospitalizations.

1 ( +8 / -7 )

Cases, cases, cases.

How many deaths in Japan yesterday from Covid?

One.

One death in a country of 125,000,000 yesterday.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

"As an aside, here is an article on the death rates in Japan for this year through July, which has some speculative discussion as to why this is:

https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20201012/p2a/00m/0na/013000c"

Yes it was piece. Here are some highlights of the article:

May's breakdown by cause of death shows that up until that month, the greatest drop was seen in patients dying of respiratory illnesses, at 9,066 fewer deaths. Among them, influenza deaths had fallen by 2,270 people, and pneumonia by 5,863.

So in the middle of pandemic of respiratory illness, Japan lost fewer people.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Here are some highlights of the article

Again, I would recommend reading the article in its entirety, as it does infer the conclusion you are drawing.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Here are some highlights of the article

Again, I would recommend reading the article in its entirety, as it doesn't infer the conclusion you are drawing.

Fixed.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Finally, if anyone has any links to the actual data on mortality for 2020 it would be appreciated.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Memory fix. Oh no put your mask on!

I asked my students if they are scared of covid and they all screamed yes. The media better reverse this crap and inform the public with the truth. I guess they want a generation of mentally ill hypochondriacs.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

The total number of deaths in Japan, from January to July, are less than for the same period last year.

Unfortunately that doesn't mean anything at all. The same goes for other countries and shows that any claims that a decrease in overall death shows something is moot. Germany saw in the same period this year less death than in 2017, 2018 and 2019. So while the claim comes up every now and then on here, just because there were less death than the year before doesn't mean anything. I've actually illustrated that before with data from a few countries. People from both sides can make claims all day long but in reality those are just assumptions made largely based on people's views as we have seen here multiple times.

May's breakdown by cause of death shows that up until that month, the greatest drop was seen in patients dying of respiratory illnesses, at 9,066 fewer deaths. Among them, influenza deaths had fallen by 2,270 people, and pneumonia by 5,863.

Yes, I would expect that considering influenza cases were low at the start of the year and steadily going down reaching less than 40% in early February per week. So instead of almost 130k new cases per week in early February last year there were about 45k. As far as I know that also holds true for the time after February (probably to a smaller extent though) and explains why the numbers are lower.

One Japan isn't hiding deaths as some have claimed or putting corona deaths down to influenza.

Some may have claimed that, sure. I merely question the accuracy of the official numbers. Tokyo had an excess of people that died from flu-like ilnesses under such circumstances starting in February for example (excess of 50-60 per week for 5 weeks starting mid February; numbers taken from a news article from May on The Nikkei so numbers for later dates were not available).

Unlike the overall drop in deaths can be explained in some way, there is no explanation why the numbers for Tokyo went up starting mid February under such circumstances though (for a time frame of five weeks at least). Considering that the seasonal flu has an estimated mortality rate of 0.1%, a big increase in cases in Tokyo would have been necessary. When usually 1 in 1000 cases lead to a death you would expect around 50-60k additional cases per week in Tokyo. In face of a lack of such an increase, I think it is absolutely fine to question Japan's official numbers. No, that does not mean that people should come up with some conspiracy theories but there are valid reasons for people to be to not believe them.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

With those new numbers, it would appear that the ratio is going up per confirmed positives to total tested.

Today's ratio is 3.02% and yesterdays was 2.87%. They can keep testing fewer people to skew their numbers but they forgot to manipulate the results to show the ratio was lower. I bet you when Japan finally does test in real large numbers, the shock and horror of there being over 300,000 positive cases will be too much for them to explain. There won't be enough deep bows in one room to make up for this.

You don't have to be showing signs that you are positive and many never do. It just would be nice to know the real numbers and then be able to watch and see how many really are affected and keep seniors and those with compromised immune systems away from those people. Just imagine you have the virus but feel fine and then visit a family member and pass it on but they don't do as well as you. Could you live with that?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The narrative these days on J-TV is focused on how cases are rising alarmingly in Europe

while Japan is low due to citizens observing hygiene rules, wearing mask and abiding to

directives of experts, some months back there was mention of Pcr-testing, recently it is like

taboo there is zero mention of testing, just the low number of those that tested positive is

reported. It is all about feeling-good from the low positive rates.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

A lot of the foreign commentators on this board can't accept the fact that due to people in Japan wearing masks, washing hands ect Covid has not exploded and that these figures must fake or some negative connotation - no its simply that, wear masks, wash hands follow recommendations.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

A lot of the foreign commentators on this board can't accept the fact that due to people in Japan wearing masks, washing hands etc. Covid has not exploded and that these figures must fake or some negative connotation - no its simply that, wear masks, wash hands follow recommendations.

It's weird, isn't it. The low figures appear to be a constant source of disappointment for them.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites