The current round of the new crown epidemic situation in Japan is severe. Recently, the number of new confirmed cases of the new crown in a single day in many places has continuously set new records.
The Japanese government said on July 29 that it still does not plan to take nationwide epidemic prevention restrictions.
A research team led by Professor Akira Hirata of Nagoya Institute of Technology in Japan predicts that Tokyo may usher in the peak of the current round of epidemics around August 6, when the average daily number of newly confirmed cases in seven days will reach about 39,000, compared with the previous wave. The outbreak's peak of 18,000 more than doubled.
Tokyo added 36,814 new cases on the 29th.
"The main reason is that although the number of infected people has increased, the flow of people has not decreased like last year," Hirata said. "Nationwide, the peak may also appear in early August. Coupled with the weakening of vaccine protection, the number of infected people may maintained at a high level.”
There were more than 220,000 new confirmed cases in Japan on the 29th, and more than 200,000 confirmed cases per day for three consecutive days; 122 new deaths nationwide on the 29th, and more than 100 deaths per day for four consecutive days.
Economic activity in Japan has already begun to suffer due to employee absenteeism due to infections, and some rail and bus companies have had to reduce the frequency of their vehicles.
Japan's medical system is under increasing pressure as the number of infections surges.
According to the summary data from the Cabinet Secretariat, as of the 27th, 19 of the 47 prefectures and prefectures across the country have used more than 50% of hospital beds for the treatment of new crown patients.
One of the salient features of the current round of the epidemic in Japan is that there are many infected children.
According to data released by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on the 28th, in the week ending on the 26th, more than 340,000 new confirmed cases of new crowns under the age of 10 were added in Japan, accounting for about 30% of all infected people, almost doubling compared to the previous week.
Kyodo News, citing pediatricians in the metropolitan area, reported that at present, the number of children with fever in major hospitals has increased sharply, inpatient beds are full, and some pediatric clinics are too busy.
The current round of the epidemic in Japan is mainly due to the spread of the BA.5 subtype of the mutated new coronavirus Omicron strain.
The World Health Organization reported on the 27th that in the week ending on the 24th, there were about 6.6 million new confirmed cases of the new crown worldwide, of which Japan had more than 969,000 confirmed cases, the most in the world.