Japan to experiment with Covid-19 antibody testing in Miyagi, Osaka, and Tokyo
Kanako Mita and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The government of Japan will focus on coronavirus (Covid-19) antibody testing in June. The regions of Miyagi, Osaka, and Tokyo have been chosen because Miyagi prefecture escaped largely unscathed. However, Tokyo witnessed the highest number of deaths and infections. Equally, Osaka was also hit hard unlike the majority of prefectures in Japan.
It is known that 3,000 people will be selected at random in all designated areas. The hope is to understand the prevalence of coronavirus and to garner information on why some people showed no symptoms.
Japan is also interested in analyzing the possibility of herd immunity. However, given the low number of deaths in Japan, it seems unlikely that herd immunity exists. After all, by early May it is known that 34 prefectures out of 47 had between zero to ten deaths.
The Health Minister, Kato Katsunobu, uttered, “We will confirm how much immunity the entire community has acquired and utilize the data to prevent the virus spreading in the future.”
In Miyagi the coronavirus crisis never materialized to any great extent. Hence only one person died from coronavirus in this prefecture. Therefore, with 263 deaths in Tokyo and 78 deaths in Osaka – and much higher infections – Japan hopes to obtain a general indicator.
https://stopcovid19.metro.tokyo.lg.jp/en/ – Tokyo Metropolitan Government website for updates about the coronavirus crisis in Tokyo.
https://covid19japan.com/ – Japan regional coronavirus statistics
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/ World coronavirus statistics
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