Meanwhile, in Japan.......
I love sport as much as the next person. But not sure the Olympics being held in Japan right now, is the greatest look for the IOC.
Japan on track to hit 15,000 cases per day by the end of the Olympics
By Eryk Bagshaw
Aug. 3 (Sydney Morning Herald) -- Tokyo: Japan is on track to reach 15,000 coronavirus cases per day by the end of the Olympics as health officials warn the situation is dire and the county's top medical union says the Games could lead to further deaths.
Tokyo is now building 16 vaccination hubs, including some underground, capable of administering 4000 doses per day, but infections have continued to almost double over the past week.
The general secretary of the Japan Federation of Medical Workers' Union, Susumu Morita, said despite the government securing more hospital beds, the limit of Japan's medical capacity had already been reached because there were not enough doctors and nurses to treat patients.
"Considering the explosive increase in the number of people with COVID-19 and the fact the disease is being replaced by a mutated strain that is prone to sudden changes, it is certain that the number of serious cases will soon surpass that of the third wave," he told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
"We believe that there is a high risk that the number of cases will reach more than 5000 a day in Tokyo and more than 15,000 nationwide by the time the Olympics close this weekend."
Toyokezai modelling overseen by Professor Hiroshi Nishiura at the University of Hokkaido shows that number could be reached well before the closing ceremony on Sunday. The country added 12,329 cases on Saturday, up from 10,728 the day before. The number of untraceable cases in Tokyo is also surging, up by 224 per cent on Monday to account for more than half of all cases.
The spread is now moving beyond Tokyo, with the capital recording 3058 cases on Monday, down from a record 4058 on Sunday.
"The number is still over 3000," said Tokyo Bureau of Social Welfare and Public Health spokesman Masaya Nishikawa. "The situation is still dire. Vaccines will be a game-changer but until we have extensive vaccine rollout it is important to thoroughly continue basic [anti] transmission measures."
Japanese broadcaster TBS news reported on Monday that one COVID-19 patient in his 50s was taken by ambulance to 100 hospitals but was refused admission because they were unprepared. More than eight hours later he was treated at a hospital 50 kilometres away.
Tokyo has been unable to get the outbreak under control during the Olympics and cases have now spread to four other prefectures, which were put into a state of emergency on Friday. The combination of the Olympics, voluntary coronavirus enforcement measures and a Japanese public weary of ongoing restrictions has created pandemic fatigue that policymakers have struggled to turn around.
The Olympic bubble added another 17 cases on Monday, taking the total to 276 infections for athletes, officials and media involved in the event.
As the Olympics enter their final stretch, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's government faces an election in the shadow of the Games. The Liberal Democratic Party had hoped the spectacle would turn around declining approval ratings that are already in their 30s.
Kyodo News reported on Sunday that former LDP chief cabinet secretary Tateo Kawamura told a party meeting that the success of Japanese Olympic athletes, who have won a record 17 gold medals, would help the government at the October poll.
"It will be a great help for us that Japanese athletes are doing their best at the Olympics," the powerbroker said. "The number of coronavirus infections would have increased even if we had not had the Olympics."
But Morita, who represents the country's doctors and nurses, said the Olympics would leave a dark legacy.
"It will trigger an outbreak, dissuade the public from paying attention to the spread of infectious diseases, and even indirectly lead to the loss of lives that could have been saved," he said.
"The burden on medical personnel working in Tokyo has already reached its limit."
Relatively low testing rates are also making getting an accurate read on the true spread of the disease challenging.
Tokyo recorded only 10,877 tests on Monday for its 3058 cases. The same day Sydney processed 117,009 tests in a city with only a third of the population pf Tokyo and seven per cent of the cases.
Tokyo's test positivity ratio has climbed to nearly 20 per cent from 10 per cent at the start of the Games.
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The Sydney Morning Herald
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-0- Aug/03/2021 02:47 GMT
