December 17, 2020
TOKYO (Reuters) – The Japanese capital of Tokyo said on Thursday the strain on its medical system from the COVID-19 pandemic was severe, raising its alert level to the highest of four stages as hospital beds filled up with rising infections.
At a coronavirus monitoring committee meeting attended by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, a health official said it had become difficult to balance the care of COVID-19 patients with regular ones, assigning a “red” alert for medical preparedness for the first time.
The number of positive cases in Tokyo hit a daily record of 678 cases on Wednesday, and the city a month ago raised its coronavirus alert for new infections – a separate category – to the highest level. It had kept its alert for medical preparedness at the second-highest level at the time, indicating a need to boost hospital capacity but a notch below critical conditions.
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)
The post Tokyo says COVID-19 strain on hospitals severe, raises alert to highest first appeared on One America News Network.
Comments are closed.