Tokyo reports 80 new coronavirus cases

I forgot to add that it was 50 to 60 people per week for 5 weeks starting mid February. That was the data available to the newspaper that published that article. So we don't know what the numbers were like after those 5 weeks.

In terms of other communicable diseases generally, and respiratory diseases specifically, there is strong reason to believe they have been suppressed this year by the increased efforts regarding covid-19.

Well we do at least know that there have been a lot less influenza cases this year compared to the last few years. Compared to the last year it was down by about 60% in early February (around 45k instead of around 129k in one certain week and already falling before that week). So overall the number of people that have died due to the flu should have gone down compared to the years before. Although Tokyo was still able to to pull an excess 50 to 60 people out of a hat that died due to a flue-like illness including pneumonia. I actually wrote about it more in detail the other day under the daily corona article (https://japantoday.com/category/national/tokyo-reports-146-new-coronavirus-cases) with the links to those articles.

@Tobias J Gibson

Thank you. I find the information that you provided helpful.

Do you have any insight on when the Japanese government will ease the travel restrictions?

 I also wanted to clarify that. 23 severe cases which I understand to mean 23 people currently in ICU in Tokyo, which has a population of 14 million. Am I getting that right?

No. Severe cases are 'those patients who need ventilators or ECMO' in the Tokyo Metropolitan area. The reasoning for this definition over the standard ICU admission plus ventilator/ECMO used by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, is that 'not all ICU patients are critically ill'. It can be inferred from this that amongst the 1,262 hospitalised patients in the Tokyo Metropolitan area, there are some who have been admitted to the ICU, but are not consider serious/severe cases.

Source: https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en

So far there have been 1,439 deaths from Coronavirus in Japan. I'd be interested in knowing how that figure compares with other diseases and deaths, such as flu, smoking-related diseases, road deaths, suicides, etc.

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to locate official mortality data for 2020 at this stage. Of the causes you listed, the only actual data I have located is for traffic fatalities. In the period since between Mar 1 and September 1, there were 1,236 traffic fatalities. However, this is around 15% down on the same period last year, with drops or almost 30% during the lockdown in April and August Obon periods.

Source: https://www.e-stat.go.jp/en/stat-search?page=1&toukei=00130002

In terms of other communicable diseases generally, and respiratory diseases specifically, there is strong reason to believe they have been suppressed this year by the increased efforts regarding covid-19. For example, recent reporting has observed a significant reduction in cases during the traditional southern hemisphere flu season: https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/09/flu-season-disappeared-in-the-southern-hemisphere-this-year/ In light of this, there will likely be a significantly reduced fatality rate compared to previous years, making comparison unhelpful.

Similarly, while I cannot find data on suicides during the pandemic period, reporting has suggested a 20% drop during the lockdown in April, and expects expect a sharp increase following the pandemic, for reasons relating to psychology during crisis and economic difficulties brought on by covid-19: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-japan-suicides/calm-before-the-storm-for-japan-suicides-as-coronavirus-ravages-economy-idUSKBN2350BE?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

The overall point is that the covid-19 mortality rate must be viewed in the distinct circumstances with which cases are occurring; widespread anti-pandemic measures and hyper-vigilant personal behaviors. Those making the 'X kills more people than corona, and we don't do anything about that' are ignoring the fact that if we did do something about that, it would kill far less people than covid-19, or, put the other way, if we don't do anything about covid-19, it will kill far more people than many other causes. Look at countries like Sweden and the U.S.A which have attempted a minimal approach (albeit still with some precautions and recommendations, and in the U.S.A case, lockdowns). Covid-19 is predicted to be the third leading cause of death in the U.S.A, behind cancer and heart-disease, both of which have multiple causes: https://www.webmd.com/lung/news/20200818/covid-the-third-leading-cause-of-death-in-the-us

In Sweden, around 57.41 people per 100000 population have died due to covid-19 since the pandemic began. The leading single cause of death for Sweden in 2019 was Ischemic heart disease, which caused 56.24 deaths per hundred thousand inhabitants. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality and https://www.statista.com/statistics/528942/sweden-number-of-deaths-by-cause-of-death/#:~:text=The%20most%20common%20cause%20of,28%20thousand%20deaths%20in%202019.&text=Chronic%20ischemic%20heart%20disease%20is,that%20causes%20the%20most%20deaths.&text=In%202018%2C%2056.24%20deaths%20occurred,Sweden%20due%20to%20the%20disease. The death rate in Sweden is now slowing, however whether this is due the intrinsic qualities of the virus, or due to changes in personal behaviors amongst Swedes is unclear. Again, until we won't really know until later how the vast social, economical and cultural changes brought on by the pandemic have impacted other causes of death. I am comfortable concluding, however, that without action the death rate for covid-19 would be significantly higher.

Wow. I cant tell you how low that count is compared to the USA I see every day.

So let’s use Go To Travel and ramp up the numbers to make a vaccine desirable and cause yet more panic and desolation! Just stay at home/local until the numbers are almost zero

So we're under 3% of the tests taken on Friday turning up positive, and most of those cases are either people reporting enough symptoms to convince a Japanese doctor to give them the test or were people being precautionarily tested because they were around someone else diagnosed with COVID19. I would like to know more about the circumstances of the tests. Precautionary tests in one category, and people with enough symptoms in the other category. I am sure the precautionary tests are responsible for the bulk of the 3154 negative tests; what is the percentage of sick people being tested who actually have the virus?

there are currently 674 cases of Covid 19 in Tokyo. 23000 is the total number since it began, obviously.

Burning Bush - I also wanted to clarify that. 23 severe cases which I understand to mean 23 people currently in ICU in Tokyo, which has a population of 14 million. Am I getting that right?

Shows that lockdowns are at best a questionable way of dealing with this virus.  And the focus on infection rates has been an entirely ridiculous way to manage this.

Numbers continue to fall and active cases have more than halved in the last month. Japan has done a great job of doing the right thing, which is to live with the virus while mitigating its risks.

LDP needs a general election asap so watch the case numbers go down over the next few weeks or so

If that doesn't happen will you change your mind?

"Young people are the second wave. They need to take responsibility for their actions."

Considering that the PCR test also detects remnants of dead virus and indicates positive, there's also some percentage of the positive results read here that are people who WERE PREVIOUSLY infected but are no longer infectious.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-54000629

But of course....LDP needs a general election asap so watch the case numbers go down over the next few weeks or so so Suga can declare the polls can be held safely in late October.

exactly

Japan is not the only country to have low numbers, so are all those countries being deceptive, too?

Young people are the second wave. They need to take responsibility for their actions.