It has been seven days since the first state of emergency was declared to seven prefectures, including Tokyo and Osaka, due to the spread of the new coronavirus infection last year.
Countermeasures against the new coronavirus have been reviewed in the past year based on new findings, while others continue to be called for as effective.
We will look at what has changed and what has not changed for the new coronavirus countermeasures.
Measures that do not change
Avoid "three dense"
One of the measures that hasn't changed even after a year is to avoid the "Three Cs" that won the "New Words and Popular Words Award" last year.
A year ago, what was strongly called for was the so-called "sealed, dense, close" in addition to basic infection control measures such as hand washing, hand sanitizer, wearing a mask, and ensuring a "social distance" to keep a distance from people. It was to avoid "three dense" as much as possible.
This was discovered by Japanese experts as an environment in which the risk of infection peculiar to the new coronavirus increases from the analysis of the infection situation until February last year, and especially in such an environment, conversation without a mask can be done. He was called upon to avoid making loud noises.
"Three Cs" is still positioned as the most important keyword for infection control, and is introduced overseas as three "Cs": "Closed spaces", "Crowded places", and "Close-contact settings". It has been.
Furthermore, in Japan, there are "five scenes" such as "social gathering with drinking", "large number of people and long-term eating and drinking", "conversation without mask", "communal living in a small space", and "switching whereabouts". It was shown as a typical scene where the risk of infection increases.
At the press conference held on the 1st of this month, the chairman of the government subcommittee, Shigeru Omi, called for "absolutely avoiding these three and five scenes."
Refrain from moving across regions
Another measure that was actively called for during the state of emergency last year was "refraining from moving people across regions."
The phenomenon that the spread of infection in urban areas spreads to rural areas due to the movement of people has been pointed out by the case of Hokkaido by last spring.
Around the fall of last year, when the infection situation was calm, the government's "Go To Campaign" was held, and the emphasis was on how to spend time on the move and at the destination, but it was infected again. As the number of people spread, the need to refrain from moving has been emphasized again due to the caution that infections in large cities will spread to rural areas.
Nowadays, highly infectious mutant viruses are spreading especially in the Kansai region, so "self-restraint of movement of people across regions" is being called again as one of the important infection countermeasures.
Measures that have changed
For point-focused measures such as restaurants
In last year's state of emergency, the government called for "at least 70%, as much as 80%, avoid contact with people" based on expert advice, and in line with this, a request for leave was issued to a wide range of industries. it was done.
After that, an analysis of clusters in the second wave of infection last summer showed that there was not much relation between the number of people in movie theaters and shopping centers and the increase or decrease in the number of infected people. We have accumulated knowledge about the environment in which infections are likely to occur.
As a result, in the second state of emergency issued in January, measures were taken focusing on requests for shortening business hours to restaurants as a "key point" for infection control.
Prior to this, Chairman Omi of the subcommittee said, "At first, it was not clear what was effective as a countermeasure, and the state of emergency in April had to take strong measures for a very wide range. However, from the point of view of the accumulation of knowledge, it is important to take measures to control key points such as restaurants. "
Not limited to "night town"
Last year, one of the major themes of infection control was the so-called "restaurants with entertainment" such as bars and nightclubs.
Since many clusters were generated in these stores, it was also described as a "night city cluster".
However, at present, it is not limited to the "night town", but it has been switched to infection control in the scene of eating and drinking with the mask removed.
The scenes where clusters occur are diversifying, and attention is being called for various scenes such as competitions by younger generations, karaoke cafes of older generations, event opening ceremonies, factories and schools, as well as foreign communities. I will.
Measures against flying
There are also measures that have been changed by new research.
One of them is a countermeasure against flying.
As of last spring, the main routes of infection were flying infections and contact infections via viruses attached to the hands.
These two infection routes are still the same, but with the new coronavirus, it is becoming clear that it is more important to take measures against tiny flying particles called "micro-flying" and "aerosol" floating in the air. I will.
A proposal from a national expert meeting issued during the state of emergency last year called for "avoid face-to-face meals and be side by side."
However, in a simulation using the latest supercomputer "Tomitake" conducted by RIKEN, the amount of flying that the person sitting next to each other is five times as much as the person sitting in front. I got the result.
For this reason, people are now being asked to sit diagonally when eating and to wear a mask when having a conversation at a restaurant.
Introducing vaccines
And the biggest change in countermeasures is the emergence of vaccines.
A year ago, there was no approved treatment for the new coronavirus, and no vaccine.
Since then, vaccines have been developed at an unusual speed, and since last year, Pfizer vaccines have been approved in Japan since last year, and inoculation has begun.
However, in Japan, priority vaccination is currently underway for healthcare professionals.
Priority vaccination for the elderly will begin next week, but due to the limited supply of vaccines at first, vaccination will be limited.
Highly effective vaccines have been reported overseas, where vaccination is progressing, and it is expected that the key to countermeasures will be how smoothly vaccination proceeds in Japan.
PCR test / medical system
PCR test system
In the middle of the first wave, around the end of April last year, the maximum daily inspection capacity was more than 15,000.
On the other hand, the maximum daily capacity is now over 176,000, which is more than 10 times higher.
In particular, the number of private inspection companies has increased from 5,200 in April last year to more than 106,000, and the number of medical institutions has increased from 800 in April last year to more than 42,000.
Furthermore, in addition to PCR tests, antigen tests that produce results in a relatively short time are now widely used, and it can be said that the testing capacity itself has greatly expanded compared to the beginning.
The number of beds
According to the data released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, as of May 1, last year, the number of beds that could be secured was 16,081 beds nationwide, while as of the 31st of last month, it was 30,000. It has nearly doubled to 450 beds.
However, considering that the number of newly infected people per day is more than 10 times higher between the peak of the first wave and the peak of the third wave, it cannot be said that the number of beds has been sufficiently increased.
According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the ratio of new corona beds to the "existing number of beds" such as general beds is 6.2% in Tokyo, 3% in Osaka and Aichi, and 1.8% in Fukuoka.
Further expansion of beds remains a major challenge, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare is urging prefectures to review their current bed security plans and formulate new plans by the end of May at the latest.