Japan Reports 160,000 New COVID-19 Cases in One Week... "Actual Infections Likely Higher"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kwon Jae-hee] In Japan, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases has increased by nearly 160,000 in a week, but analyses suggest that the actual number of infected individuals is even higher.

As confirmed cases surge explosively, concerns are raised that testing capacity is insufficient, preventing an accurate understanding of the infection situation.

According to a report by the Asahi Shimbun on the 23rd citing data from the Japanese Cabinet Secretariat, the COVID-19 test positivity rate for the week ending on the 19th of this month was 23.3% in Tokyo and 34.8% in Kanagawa Prefecture. The national average was 16.4%.

The Japanese government’s COVID-19 task force considers a positivity rate above 10% as corresponding to the most severe 'Stage 4' of infection, and the current situation far exceeds this threshold.

The positivity rate is an indicator showing the proportion of people who tested positive among those who underwent COVID-19 testing.

When the number of infected individuals rapidly increases and the number of tests cannot keep up with the number of infections, the positivity rate tends to rise.

At a COVID-19 monitoring meeting in Tokyo on the 20th, concerns were raised that "there may be a failure to respond promptly to those who need testing."

According to Kyodo News, Shigeru Omi, chairman of the COVID-19 task force, appeared before the House of Representatives Cabinet Committee on the 18th and expressed his opinion on the testing shortage issue, stating, "I believe the number of infected people is somewhat higher than reported."

Japan’s confirmed COVID-19 cases increased by 157,532 over the week ending on the 22nd (NHK tally).

Considering the rising positivity rate, it is estimated that many infected individuals have not been confirmed due to insufficient testing.

One reason for inadequate testing is that frontline public health centers are not actively conducting epidemiological investigations.

With the explosive increase in confirmed cases, public health centers are short-staffed due to tasks such as checking patients’ health status and coordinating medical institutions for hospitalizing severe cases, leading to lax epidemiological investigations.

According to the Yomiuri Shimbun, in places such as Tokyo, Saitama Prefecture, Osaka Prefecture, and Naha City in Okinawa Prefecture, there are moves to scale back active epidemiological investigations aimed at identifying infection routes and close contacts of confirmed cases.

For example, the Naha Public Health Center stopped investigations of workplaces, except for medical institutions and offices where cluster infections occurred, starting from late last month when confirmed cases surged.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.