World News | Japan is Conducting Antibody Tests in Three Prefectures
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. - Japan's health ministry started blood tests Monday in three areas including Tokyo in an effort to check what percentage of its people have developed antibodies, a sign of their coronavirus infections in recent past.
Tokyo, Jun 1 (AP)- Japan's health ministry started blood tests Monday in three areas including Tokyo in an effort to check what percentage of its people have developed antibodies, a sign of their coronavirus infections in recent past.
The tests will be conducted on 10,000 randomly selected people at age 20 or older from Tokyo and Osaka to represent Japan's two most-infected prefectures, while Miyagi in the north is one of least infected in the country.
Some 3,000 people will be tested in each area and results will be expected at the end of June.
Japan, due to its lack of testing capability and resources, has until recently begun carefully limiting access to testing mainly to reduce the number of severe cases and fatalities.
The strategy, however, has prompted doubts that many people may have been undetected.
Experts say Japan needs to bolster testing to find and isolate patients quickly as it gradually resumes businesses after its seven-week state of emergency ended last week. (AP)
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