Expert meeting “Infection reduction slows down and may increase again”

An expert meeting of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare was held to advise on measures against the new coronavirus, and it was pointed out that the rate of decrease in infection is slowing down and that it may turn to an increasing trend nationwide in the future.

As the number of people dying due to the increase in clusters in facilities for the elderly is increasing, it is necessary to strengthen measures at the facilities and accelerate booster vaccination.

Although the number of infections in the expert meetings is declining nationwide, the speed is slowing down. It is said that the number of clusters in nursing care and welfare facilities is increasing.

On top of that, in Okinawa Prefecture, where priority measures such as prevention of spread have been lifted, the number of people in downtown areas at night has increased sharply and infections have increased again. He pointed out that "it may turn to an increasing trend again nationwide."

In addition, although there are no signs so far, it is possible that the virus will be replaced by a virus called "BA.2", which is a type of Omicron strain and has been pointed out to have even higher infectivity, and the infection will start to increase again. It is also necessary to pay attention to sex.

The number of severely ill patients has remained high and the number of people dying has continued to increase. The increase may continue.

In order to control the infection of the elderly, it is necessary for the expert meeting to thoroughly implement measures at the long-term care and welfare facilities, further accelerate the additional vaccination not only to the elderly who enter, but also to actively inspect the staff. There is.

In addition, since the infection has spread due to events where many people gather, avoid even one dense place toward the end of the year when events such as graduation ceremonies and spring break will be held, and when going out, crowded places and infections He emphasized the need to avoid high-risk situations and to take thorough infection control measures such as proper wearing of non-woven masks, disinfection of fingers and ventilation.