Japan daily Covid hits 25,000: Tokyo lady and baby of pregnant lady in Chiba die because no hospital beds
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The coronavirus (Covid-19) crisis in Japan is at its worst stage concerning daily infections since this virus entered the country in January last year. Reasons for this include no government support to enable stronger measures under the current leader of Japan, the rapid increase during the Olympic timeframe based on changed perceptions, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga being aloof just like his response to the Go-To Travel campaign, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike like Suga focused on the Olympics rather than boosting hospital care dramatically for the worst-case scenario, the longevity of the same policies, the hypocrisy of holding the Olympics while telling people to stay home without any recompense, and other factors.
Shockingly, even when Suga and Koike understood that the Delta variant (first reported in India) was spreading throughout Asia – and further afield – they still focused on the Olympics. Hence, despite increasing numbers of Delta infections being reported in Japan, they still didn’t prepare the health care system adequately both regionally and nationally.
In recent days, a mother in her forties died at home in Tokyo because she suffered in silence. Meanwhile, today it was reported that a premature baby died at home after her mother with coronavirus was turned away from a hospital in Chiba prefecture (a neighboring prefecture of Tokyo). However, Suga and Koike, who have failed to provide enough hospital beds for ordinary people suffering from coronavirus, managed to provide beds at the exclusive Olympic village – the sense of priority is disgraceful.
NHK reports, “NHK has learned that a coronavirus-infected pregnant woman could not find a hospital that would admit her for emergency treatment and her premature baby died.”
The lady was in her 30s and comes from Chiba prefecture. Apparently, she had coronavirus and was eight months pregnant when suddenly she began bleeding. However, when she called for an ambulance, the public health office and emergency team failed to find her a hospital that would admit her during her hour of need.
Thus the mother had no option but to give birth alone and the premature baby died because of the callowness of political elites who care little about ordinary people. Hence, no shiny Japanese gold medals and no international media browny points for Suga, who provides vast economic support to foreign nations in their respective battles against coronavirus – but he can’t help ordinary people in Japan to the same degree (he doesn’t mind using Japanese taxpayers money for foreign nations and the Olympics). Therefore, despite the longevity of the crisis and with the Delta variant being highly contagious, neither Suga (nationally) or Koike (regionally in Tokyo) planned adequately for the current coronavirus crisis.
Japan hit 25,000 daily infections today – the highest on record within the shadow of the Olympics that recently finished. However, no sign of economic compensation and stronger measures to contain the crisis.
Reuters reports, “Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga dismissed the idea of imposing stricter lockdowns or a blanket, nationwide state of emergency, partly for fear of damaging the economy.”
Despite increasing deaths at home and hospitals coming under enormous strain, Suga is focused on the vaccination program (no internal Japanese vaccines available) at all costs.
He said, “The vaccine is clearly effective in reducing the number of severely ill patients… New cases are an important factor, but perhaps the number of severely ill patients or hospitalized patients are better indicators of the state of the health care system, and should therefore be weighted more heavily.”
Hence, Suga and Koike are more focused on manipulating language and moving the goalposts. Therefore, the definition of what is deemed “serious emergency cases” and “priority” keeps on changing.
The recent deaths of a Tokyo mother at home and a premature baby dying in Chiba sums up the Suga government and the local government in Tokyo under Koike.
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/news/20210819_07/
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html – Japan and Tokyo Covid-19 news with more analysis
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
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