Covid daily deaths in Japan keep ticking: Kishida does little
Kanako Mita, Sawako Utsumi, and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
On October 4, 2021, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took office. The vaccine campaign that relies on foreign vaccines in Japan was well underway long before Kishida took over the reins of power. In 10 months under Kishida’s leadership, approximately 88 percent of all coronavirus infections have occurred during this timeframe. Therefore, it is abundantly clear that Kishida is over-focusing on the vaccine angle because of the mountain of debt that Japan is blighted with despite his desire to double the military budget.
The majority of people in Japan have had three coronavirus injections. Indeed, the number of people with two injections covers the overwhelming majority of the population. However, daily coronavirus infection rates have hit new highs in recent weeks. Meanwhile, another 200 people died from coronavirus yesterday in Japan.
Hence, by the end of Kishida’s first year in office – and despite the vaccine program already being in full force in Japan before Kishida became the prime minister – 50 percent of all deaths will likely have occurred despite the favorable situation he found himself in.
Infections of coronavirus totaled just over 1.7 million before Kishida took office. This figure now is just below 13.9 million. Hence, roughly 88 percent of all coronavirus cases are under Kishida.
Reuters reports, “Japan’s tally of COVID cases has surged past those of other countries as the full impact of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants dominating around the world hits home. Japan had more than 1.4 million new COVID cases over the past week, World Health Organization data showed.”
Hirokazu Matsuno, the Chief Cabinet Secretary, ruled out any immediate restrictions on the movement of people. Past coronavirus measures (in truth) in Japan were weak compared with draconian nations, including Canada and the United Kingdom. These two nations – and many others – introduced heavy fines for breaking coronavirus regulations. However, the state of emergency and quasi-state of emergencies did help to reduce infections in Japan despite the less intrusive approach.
Kishida’s main approach is the vaccine role out – and relying on new foreign vaccines to tackle the Omicron variants. After ten months in office – and with approximately 88 percent of all coronavirus infections happening under Kishida’s watch: it is difficult to have faith in any magic vaccine even if they reduce deaths and the severity of the infection. After all, the reality is that vaccines and natural immunity haven’t prevented the expected 50 percent of all coronavirus deaths occurring during Kishida’s first year in office by early October this year.
The coronavirus numbers will eventually subside by themselves. However, a fresh wave might occur once more. Irrespective of this, 50 percent of all deaths happened between the middle of January 2020 – when coronavirus first entered Japan – to early October 2021.
From October 2021 to October 2022, approximately 50 percent of all deaths will have occurred (at a quicker rate) under Kishida despite the vaccine program already being in full swing. Therefore, the “do nothing approach” of Kishida – outside of utilizing foreign vaccines – is proving costly concerning the lives of people who have passed away and the endless psychological angle that prevails for many individuals.
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
PLEASE DONATE TO HELP MODERN TOKYO TIMES
Modern Tokyo News is part of the Modern Tokyo Times group
DONATIONS to SUPPORT MODERN TOKYO TIMES – please pay PayPal and DONATE to sawakoart@gmail.com
http://moderntokyotimes.com Modern Tokyo Times – International News and Japan News
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi personal website and Modern Tokyo Times artist
https://moderntokyonews.com Modern Tokyo News – Tokyo News and International News
PLEASE JOIN ON TWITTER
https://twitter.com/MTT_News Modern Tokyo Times
PLEASE JOIN ON FACEBOOK