Photo/Illutration A specialized lung bypass machine, known as extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, used to treat gravely ill COVID-19 patients (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Tokyo is counting the number of seriously ill COVID-19 patients by its own standards rather than as directed by the central government, under which the number would rise by 10 to 42 on Aug. 19.

Metropolitan government officials acknowledged on Aug. 19 that they don't follow the instructions given by the health ministry. 

Under a ministry directive on April 26, local authorities are advised to report the number of serious cases by counting patients on a ventilator; patients using an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which is a lung bypass machine; and patients being treated in intensive care units even though they are not using a ventilator or an ECMO.

But the number of seriously ill patients that metropolitan officials have reported so far were only those on a ventilator or an ECMO.

Serious cases totaled 32 in Tokyo as of Aug. 19, according to the metropolitan government tally.

As for not including patients in ICUs, a Tokyo official said the number of serious cases should mirror their actual condition, not the rooms they were assigned to.

“Since COVID-19 patients cannot share their hospital rooms with patients with other diseases, they were sometimes placed in ICUs even if their condition was not grave,” the official said. “As a result, not all COVID-19 patients in ICUs are seriously ill.”

The official said the metropolitan government will stick to its own method of tallying serious cases by excluding moderate and mild cases in ICUs.

But it will report to the health ministry the number that will reflect the ministry’s guidelines, the official said.

In Osaka Prefecture, the number of hospitalized patients in serious condition was 65 as of Aug. 18, double the number in Tokyo. The prefectural government counts such cases based on the ministry guidelines.

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