Photo/Illutration Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike urges Tokyoite to remain vigilant against the new coronavirus at a news conference in Tokyo on July 22. (Kazuhiro Nagashima)

A medical expert on the front lines of the battle against the novel coronavirus warned Tokyoites not to grow complacent by the metropolitan government’s “wrong” assessment of the capital’s health care system.

“We cannot say the health care system is not stretched,” Yoshihiro Yamaguchi, who heads the Trauma and Critical Care Center of Kyorin University Hospital, said July 22.

His words came at a meeting of experts who are analyzing the COVID-19 situation in Tokyo.

The meeting was held a day before Tokyo confirmed a daily record of 366 new infections.

The metropolitan government has maintained the highest alert level concerning the spread of the virus in the capital.

However, for hospital capacity in Tokyo, it has retained an alert level of 2 on the scale of 4, meaning the health care system is not strained but steps should be taken to bolster capacity.

A Level 1 assessment means the health care system is nearing collapse.

Yamaguchi pointed out the number of hospitalized COVID-19 inpatients was 949 on July 21, more than 1.4 times the 651 on July 13. The number of seriously ill patients more than doubled to 14 over the same period.

He noted that admitting and discharging COVID-19 patients requires a lot of manpower because further testing and related work, including disinfecting, must be performed.

In addition, doctors, nurses and other health care workers on the front line are already exhausted from caring for patients for several months.

“We urge the public to realize that the health care system has managed to hold up due to the hard work by those in various fields, including hospitals, the metropolitan government, public health care centers and hotels,” he said.

Yamaguchi called on Tokyo residents not to become complacent just because the alert level in health care system has not been raised to the most serious level.

“I plead with Tokyoites not to use the current assessment as an excuse for going out and traveling,” he said.

Data presented at the July 22 meeting showed that the seven-day average rate of positive tests from diagnostic and antigen tests edged up to 6.5 percent on July 21 from 6.1 percent on July 13.

A daily average of 30.6 emergency-care patients took more than 20 minutes or went to five hospitals before finally being admitted for treatment over the week through July 13. The number rose to 31.1 over the week through July 21. 

Fifteen percent of the 1,533 COVID-19 patients whose infections were confirmed between July 14 and July 20 showed no symptoms.

Health experts called on the metropolitan government to secure facilities, such as hotels, for patients with mild or no symptoms, in addition to securing more hospital beds.

Tokyo officials said while they have already secured 2,400 hospital beds, only about 400 rooms at cooperating hotels had been reserved as of July 22.

But they said they expect to book more than 2,000 rooms by the end of this month through contracts with more hotels.

(This article was written by Yusuke Nagano and Rihito Karube.)

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