One-Third of Japanese COVID Patients Unable to Find Hospital Bed, Must Recover at Home

Japan, besieged by skyrocketing coronavirus cases, extended its state of emergency again on Wednesday, this time including eight more prefectures as the Delta variant crushes hospitals, the Associated Press reported.

While Tokyo has been under an emergency order since July 12, new daily cases have since jumped to 5,000 in the capital city and 25,000 nationwide. The surge has forced packed hospitals to turn away people to recover at home, even those requiring supplemental oxygen.

The lack of available beds has resulted in more than 35,000 COVID-positive people in Tokyo recovering at home, with one-third of them unable to find an available hospital or treatment hotel bed. A small number of hospitals are admitting virus patients for either financial reasons of because of a lack of capability to treat infections.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Wednesday that people recovering at home can call, go online or set up visits with community doctors to receive care. He added that the government soon will erect temporary hospitals for patients who need oxygen or other treatments that can't be administered at home.

For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.

The government last week extended the state of emergency until September 12 and expanded the areas covered to 13 prefectures from six including Tokyo. With four new prefectures added to a separate "quasi-emergency" status, 33 of Japan's 47 prefectures are now under some type of emergency measures.

Eight prefectures were upgraded from quasi-emergency status to a full emergency. They include Hokkaido and Miyagi in the north, Aichi and Gifu in central Japan, and Hiroshima and Okayama in the west.

"In order to protect the people's lives, the priority is to maintain the health care system," Suga said as he announced the emergency. "In order to overcome this crisis led by the Delta strain, I seek further cooperation from everyone."

Japan's state of emergency relies on requirements for eateries to close at 8 p.m. and not serve alcohol, but the measures are increasingly defied. Unenforceable social distancing and tele-working requests for the public and their employers are also largely ignored due to growing complacency.

Japan has weathered the pandemic better than many other countries, with around 15,600 deaths nationwide since the start, but its vaccination efforts lag behind other wealthy nations. About 40 percent of the population has been fully vaccinated, mainly elderly people.

Suga brushed off criticism that he is simply repeating increasingly ineffective emergency measures and stressed the progress of vaccinations despite their late start and slow pace. He said he is convinced that vaccines are key to a return to normal lives and hopes to achieve a 60 percent vaccination rate by around September.

Suga said the government will distribute 800,000 antigen test kits to kindergartens, elementary and junior high schools for quick detection and isolation of cases when schools reopen after the summer vacation, while promising to accelerate vaccinations for teachers.

Rising infections among schoolchildren and teenagers could accelerate the surge as they begin returning to school, said Dr. Shigeru Omi, the top government medical adviser. He proposed that schools curtail activities and urged high schools and colleges to return to online classes.

"Infections in Tokyo are showing no signs of slowing, and severely tight medical systems will continue for a while," he told a parliamentary session Wednesday.

Omi said later that the emergency measures are not effective because people are not cooperating with the requests. He urged lawmakers to discuss a legal framework to enforce social distancing and the involvement of more hospitals.

The government has faced criticism for holding the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics despite strong opposition from the public. Officials deny any direct link between the Games and the spike in infections.