An unconscious man died after failing to secure an ambulance hospital in Japan.
Hospitals have rejected a patient who is in critical condition because of a fever and suspected COVID-19 infection.
This is a clear example of a situation in which the emergency medical system is partially paralyzed due to the explosive spread of COVID-19.
At about 9:15 pm on the 18th, a relative found a 63-year-old man lying on the toilet in a house in Ichikawa, Chiba Prefecture, the Japanese metropolitan area, and called 911, but he could not be taken to the hospital immediately and died.
When paramedics arrived at the scene, the man was unconscious and developed a fever with a body temperature of 38.9 degrees Celsius.
The fire department searched for a hospital to transport the man to, but more than 30 hospitals refused to accept it, saying, 'It is difficult to accept because there is a fever of unknown cause.'
The man was taken to a hospital about 50 km from his house at 1:05 a.m. the next day, almost four hours after the report, but his death was confirmed.
It was reported that he had cerebral hemorrhage.
On the 17th, a pregnant woman infected with Corona 19 in Chiba Prefecture gave birth at home, unable to complete 7 months of pregnancy because she could not find a place to be hospitalized.
The baby was later taken to the hospital, but died.
As the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to increase, the shortage of hospital beds and medical personnel has become serious.
The Mainichi Shimbun reported today that at least 21 people have died while receiving home care this month in four metropolitan areas including Tokyo, Saitama, Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures.
In Japan, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 161,524 in the week until yesterday.
The increase increased by 18.8% from the previous week.
(Photo = Yonhap News)