Tokyo Hospitals on Red Alert After City Records Highest COVID-19 Cases on Thursday

Tokyo, December 17: The hospitals in Tokyo have raised their alert level to highest to tackle to growing strain on the medical system owing to the increase in COVID-19 cases. Masataka Inokuchi, Vice Chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association said, "medical service providers have exhausted all spare resources," while addressing the meeting with the coronavirus monitoring committee in the city. He added, "Reducing the number of COVID-19 patients will be the only way to go," as reported by Reuters.   COVID-19 Vaccine to be Administered For Free in Japan, Yoshihide Suga Govt Passes Bill in Parliament.

A health official reportedly said that it had become difficult to balance the care of COVID-19 patients with regular ones as hospital beds filled up all over the city. This has resulted in issuing a “red” alert for medical preparedness for the first time. The highest number COVID-19 cases in Tokyo were recorded on Thursday. It stands at 822. The previous record of 678 cases was reported a day earlier.  Japan, South Korea Hit Record New COVID-19 Cases in Past 24 Hours.

A month ago, Tokyo had raised its coronavirus alert for new infections, a separate category, to the highest level. It had kept its alert for medical preparedness at the second-highest level at the time, thereby indicating a need to boost hospital capacity but a notch below critical conditions. However, owing to the increased strain on the medical services, the city has raised its alert to the highest level.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 17, 2020 12:56 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).