national

Tokyo reports record high 678 new coronavirus cases; nationwide tally 2,995

60 Comments

The Tokyo metropolitan government on Wednesday reported a record high 678 new cases of the coronavirus, up 218 from Tuesday. The number is the result of 1,838 tests conducted on Dec 13.

The previous record high for Tokyo was 621 on Dec 12.

The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 48,688.

By age group, the highest number of cases were people in their 20s (184), followed by 123 in their 30s, 107 in their 40s and 94 in their 50s.

The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 69, down nine from Tuesday, health officials said.

Nationwide, the number of reported cases as of 6:30 p.m. was 2,995. After Tokyo, the prefectures with the most cases were Osaka (396), Kanagawa (287), Aichi (248), Saitama (179), Hyogo (135), Chiba (123), Kyoto (87), Hokkaido (86), Hiroshima (73), Gunma (63), Miyagi (45), Gifu (41), Okinawa (36), Okayama (32) and Shizuoka (31).

Twenty-nine coronavirus-related deaths were reported.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

60 Comments
Login to comment

678 Confirmed. December 13th test results. 1838 tests. I wonder what diseases the others had which prompted them to be allowed to get tested, and were all of them free or did people pay?

Still booked for travelling to Kyoto and will be cautious as we have been with all our other GoToTravel trips.

-39 ( +7 / -46 )

A 37% positive test rate is more than troubling. That travel campaign was a complete disaster from the start and has worsened the spread.

Stay home where possible, NO bonenkai - and stay safe.

10 ( +26 / -16 )

678 Confirmed. December 13th test results. 1838 tests.

As I often said, comparing directly Sunday's tests with Wednesday's results makes no sense. All the positive tests are not the results of Sunday's tests. It is just the way of reporting.

-11 ( +6 / -17 )

GAMBATTE Suga! 

What are you going to do about this mess? Request restaurants to close at 9PM instead of 10PM?

16 ( +21 / -5 )

”The number of infected people hospitalized with severe symptoms in Tokyo is 69, down nine from Tuesday, health officials said”

Nine people died yesterday in Tokyo according to local news

13 ( +16 / -3 )

As I often said, comparing directly Sunday's tests with Wednesday's results makes no sense. All the positive tests are not the results of Sunday's tests. It is just the way of reporting.

I think you are the one that actually misunderstands. These are the results of the tests on Sunday. They are just reported on Wednesday. To be clear, on Sunday there were 1838 tests conducted and of THOSE TESTS 678 were positive. But it is only reported today. Get it?

-3 ( +14 / -17 )

1838 tests and 678 cases ....that's scarily high percentage.

yeah that shocked me too.

4 ( +16 / -12 )

No. What you are saying makes no sense. Get it?

Ummm, no.

I understand English is not the first language for a lot of people on here, but it's written, in plain English in the article: "The number is the result of 1,838 tests conducted on Dec 13".

The "number" referenced in this sentence is talking about the 678. Get it?

4 ( +18 / -14 )

Solutions

Get Jacinda Ardern over pronto

Shut it all down

Keep calm and carry on.
10 ( +20 / -10 )

Logic is above many of you here. If the number of people that had similar symptoms of covid and only 37 % proved true, that is great. It means the others were not infected.

There would be a lot more people dying and infected if this was out of control.

-25 ( +5 / -30 )

Boom, here we go. Now that the facade of "Go To" is temporarily over, the J-Gov can start inching towards allowing the real numbers to be shown.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

@Reckless

I wonder if a chart of daily cases broken down by age is available. It seems that more and more of the percentage of cases is coming from young persons who may be resistant to severe symptoms but nonetheless spread the virus more.

I had an impression of opposite. 20s and 30s were forming more than half of the total cases for months, that was the base to blame the hostess clubs and bars.

Now, based on below info, it seems young people are in minority.

It's worrisome.

By age group, the highest number of cases were people in their 20s (184), followed by 123 in their 30s, 107 in their 40s and 94 in their 50s.

-12 ( +1 / -13 )

Onwards and upwards, I guess Mr.Suga? Ms.Koike?

....*crickets.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

That the numbers are going up has not shocked me at all.

I will be eating out tonight with my wife and have zero fear that I will be infected...

It is all about commonsense...

-21 ( +6 / -27 )

Don’t worry, they know how to interpret those rising numbers. That’s why they hurried up for GoToEat while only they still can.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

We should celebrate the new high score with a massive sports event! We can invite people from all over the world!

18 ( +20 / -2 )

The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 48,688.

New York City now has more than 40,000 each day. Tokyo is doing something right.

-13 ( +9 / -22 )

My little friend who goes to a junior high school near my house told me that students had to check their temperatures every morning before going to school and they have to show the temperature book to their teachers every day. A little while ago, a family member of a certain boy at his school was found positive. The class was closed several days and reopened now but the boy has not returned to school yet. A poor boy!

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

FuzzyToday 04:20 pm JST

As I often said, comparing directly Sunday's tests with Wednesday's results makes no sense. All the positive tests are not the results of Sunday's tests. It is just the way of reporting.

I think you are the one that actually misunderstands. These are the results of the tests on Sunday. They are just reported on Wednesday. To be clear, on Sunday there were 1838 tests conducted and of THOSE TESTS 678 were positive. But it is only reported today. Get it?

No, I understand very well. I would say you do misunderstand yourself the way of reporting or doing statistics and analysis…..

Otherwise, explain me why every Wednesday and only on that day we suddenly have a peak of about 30% for the positive rate ?

And every Monday, that’s the opposite, a minimum positive rate well below the average for Tokyo

The actual positive rate over the last seven days period has been 6.6%

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

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

New York City now has more than 40,000 each day. Tokyo is doing something right.

Absolutely NO-ONE could use the US as a yardstick as to handling this pandemic.

3 ( +13 / -10 )

How many of those cases are also simply flu cases? Same symptoms same test

-10 ( +4 / -14 )

Wow! That’s a third of those tested returned positive results. It’s quite a small number of tests too.

Tommy Eddy Kookaburra - How many of those cases are also simply flu cases? Same symptoms same test

Mate, every one of them has flu-like symptoms. That is why they were tested. Japan only tests patients with symptoms.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

Cant keep bars, hair salons and gyms open like they are. Gonna be 1000 soon.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Nine people died yesterday in Tokyo according to local news

Hyogo registered 8 deaths.

Recently, the number of deaths despite being high is being suppressed, is it not to

create panic ?

0 ( +5 / -5 )

@Kniknaknokkaer

I don't know why people keep going on about it being hard to get tested. One of my kids got tested (negative) at a doctors surgery on insurance almost immediately, as a classmate had tested positive.

If you have persistent symptoms or have had direct contact with a positive case you can get tested on insurance. If you're just curious, you have to pay.

Confirmation bias. Just because you got lucky, doesn't mean others are the same. There are still numerous stories of people who have tried (even begged) to get tested, with symptoms, and have been in direct contact with positive cases (just that, they were wearing a mask), and they are denied an access to testing. A man of 42 years of age died, because he couldn't get tested and couldn't get treatment.

Also, like mentioned - were you tested as well? You should've been.

7 ( +11 / -4 )

I don't know why people keep going on about it being hard to get tested. One of my kids got tested (negative) at a doctors surgery on insurance almost immediately, as a classmate had tested positive.

If you have persistent symptoms or have had direct contact with a positive case you can get tested on insurance. If you're just curious, you have to pay.

Do you know the criteria for being classified as being in close contact with an infected person ? and if you

do, do you think the criteria makes sense ?

3 ( +7 / -4 )

The more people stay home, the better my photographs will be for my trips I am taking. Thank you.

Once again, testing people without symptoms is a waste of time and money.

-13 ( +4 / -17 )

Come on guys!

I am just following PM Suga’s lead here...

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

@didou

No, I understand very well. I would say you do misunderstand yourself the way of reporting or doing statistics and analysis…..

I understand enough about English to understand that these 678 positives were a result of 1,838 tests.

I understand enough about statistics to know that trying to read too much into these daily fluctuations in "positivity rate" is meaningless. This data does not tell you the trend. You need to step back and look at the bigger picture longer term data to discern a trend.

It's common knowledge that the reporting is impacted by weekends. That's true in Japan and it's true in the US. It's also common knowledge that the tests are only given to people suspected of having covid, not just random people, so the positivity rate based on these stats tells you nothing about the spread among the population.

I suspect we agree that these numbers are meaningless, but disagree on the reason why they are meaningless.

5 ( +9 / -4 )

Cant keep bars, hair salons and gyms open like they are. Gonna be 1000 soon.

Hmm , I don't think we'll see 1000 in Tokyo. There will be a peak of about 800-ish around Christmas and then the numbers will start dropping.

I think the rise in the reported infections have very little to do with C19. I believe C19 spreads at the same rate as in Aug.

The difference really is the symptoms, which are similar to cold , you catch a cold you get a test you return plus.

If this theory is correct and once the common colds are over the numbers will drop and will maintain the 300 mark till March.

I am not saying C19 is harmless for the vulnerable population .

-1 ( +7 / -8 )

It's common knowledge that the reporting is impacted by weekends

If tests are impacted on the weekend, results should be too. But today we had the highest figure of positive cases in Tokyo. There is no scientific explanation behind the Wednesday spike in the rate.

It has been decided by some authorities to report by mentioning the number of tests done three days before. A three day gap.

But all positives tests reported today by some clinics or hospitals are not all the results of Sunday’s tests, Some are the results of Monday or Tuesday’s tests. Not all clinics or hospitals are on the same page, and do not report exactly with that 3 days gap. That’s why we have some discrepancies and the 7 day average is the most important.

In the opposite, on Monday, we have always a low figure, but the number of tests on Friday is high. Why ? Because this is the result of lower testing on the weekend, not Friday.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

@didou

If tests are impacted on the weekend, results should be too.

Absolutely. But, proportionately. Fewer tests, fewer positives. This should not impact the positivity rate.

Unless, for some reason the reduced number of tests also influences who is tested. You are searching for that reason and have come to believe that the tests/results are not from a single day.

But maybe there's another explanation. Consider this. Imagine on a Sunday, there are fewer resources available to test and report. So, they are forced to be more stringent with who they test i.e. only the sickest of the sick. This could result a spike in the positivity rate as the sickest of the sick are more likely to be covid than flu cases, thus skewing the numerator and denominator in favor of a higher positivity rate. This is the number that is then reported on Wednesdays.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Please stop comparing positivity rates from Japan and other countries. Since Japan isn't doing mass testing, the positivity rate isn't 37%. Logically that's mathematically impossible. Smgdfh

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

But hey, GoTo campaign still on until the 28th for most parts of the nation, and there's no travel ban, and according to Suga parties are perfectly fine. Well, according to his actions, anyway.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

nakanoguy01: "Please stop comparing positivity rates from Japan and other countries."

Yeah, wouldn't want Japan to have to look at what taking actual action means.

"Since Japan isn't doing mass testing, the positivity rate isn't 37%. Logically that's mathematically impossible. Smgdfh"

The positivity rate of the number of tests is 37%, and that is proven. No one said it represented all of the nation, and if they did, I'm quite sure they meant out of the number of cases. And let's say they extrapolated and said it was possibly representative of the nation as a whole, it's still a lot better indicator and more truthful than the people who laugh on Sundays and say, "You see! Only 450 or so infected in ALL of Tokyo!" (as though every person had been tested).

678 cases out of 1838 tests -- what percentage positivity would you call that, nakanoguy?

2 ( +5 / -3 )

Absolutely. But, proportionately. Fewer tests, fewer positives. This should not impact the positivity rate.

Unless, for some reason the reduced number of tests also influences who is tested. You are searching for that reason and have come to believe that the tests/results are not from a single day.

But maybe there's another explanation. Consider this. Imagine on a Sunday, there are fewer resources available to test and report. So, they are forced to be more stringent with who they test i.e. only the sickest of the sick. This could result a spike in the positivity rate as the sickest of the sick are more likely to be covid than flu cases, thus skewing the numerator and denominator in favor of a higher positivity rate. 

I don't think they can pick and choose who they test like that. That would require a doctor(s) seeing them all first, comparing the results, and then testing them all at once at the end of the day. Not very likely.

More likely the sick people knew there were limited medical centers open on Sunday, and everyone would be queuing up at those centers. So only those that were in a desperate state decided to go.

I for one hate going to see a doctor on a Sunday or holiday. There is only one place open in my town, and so not only is it crowded, but they are only allowed to give you 2 days worth of medicine (even during a 10-day holiday, lol). This even though the doctor there is usually more knowledgeable then the average local quack who will give you a week's worth of medicine without doing any examination.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@gokai_wo_manekuToday  

The tally brought Tokyo's cumulative total to 48,688.

New York City now has more than 40,000 each day. Tokyo is doing something right

How can Tokyo get to that number if we are testing between 1,000 to 8,000 a day?

Well, its basic math...

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Get Jacinda Ardern over pronto

Shut it all down

Keep calm and carry on.

Doesn't work so easily with a big nation like Japan.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

There is a real deja vu about this current trajectory.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Not good. Deaths averages around 35 or more daily nowadays.

Height of pandemic in May deaths averages around 20 daily

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Anyway let's put a number to the unknown so runaway imaginations could have a break of sorts.

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1003346

0 ( +0 / -0 )

marcelitoDec. 16  04:11 pm JST

1838 tests and 678 cases ....that's scarily high percentage.

And this is a record high, in the largest city on planet Earth? In my small state of Ohio there are over 8000+ new cases a day. Tokyo alone has their act better than the whole of the USA. 678 sick is nothing compared to America.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

starpunk

And this is a record high, in the largest city on planet Earth? In my small state of Ohio there are over 8000+ new cases a day. Tokyo alone has their act better than the whole of the USA. 678 sick is nothing compared to America.

What is the obesity rate in Japan vs America? These country vs country comparisons are utterly meaningless.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

If you don't include the high counts in the calculation, the average will of course become low.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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