An urgent symposium was held to report on the current status of the mutated new coronavirus, and experts from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases said that it would take longer than before for the highly infectious mutant virus, which spreads in Japan, to converge. He pointed out that "we have to take strong measures".

The symposium was held in a joint society such as the Japan Society for Infectious Diseases, which is being held in Yokohama.



Motoi Suzuki, Director of the Epidemiology Center for Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, compared the effective reproduction number of the virus with the "N501Y" mutation with the conventional virus, which indicates the susceptibility to infection, based on the data in Osaka. I introduced the analysis results.



Director Suzuki said that with conventional viruses, the infection peaked in late March, and in early April, the infection began to converge, while with mutant viruses, it spread even at the same time, and it took more time to converge. He pointed out that "it should have been possible to reduce the number of infections with the conventional feeling, but it has not been reduced so much, so we have to take strong measures."



A mutant virus that spreads in India was also reported, and Tomoya Saito, director of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, said that it may have the same infectivity as the mutant virus found in the UK, in the UK on the 7th. He introduced that he was designated as a highly vigilant mutant virus and complained that "it is necessary to be more vigilant in Japan as well."