Photo/Illutration In Osaka, most people are seen in masks to protect themselves against COVID-19 on Aug. 10 despite the extremely hot weather. (Sayuri Ide)

Osaka Prefecture's newly confirmed COVID-19 infections hit 187 on Aug. 19, topping Tokyo, which confirmed 186, to record the most new daily cases nationwide for the first time in three months.

The number of patients with serious symptoms in Osaka Prefecture has been soaring. A total of 65 patients were hospitalized there with serious symptoms on Aug. 18, more than double that in Tokyo.

On Aug. 15, 70 patients with serious symptoms were hospitalized in Osaka Prefecture, and 72 the following day, marking a record high for two days in a row.

The ratio of occupied beds for patients with serious symptoms reached 38.3 percent on Aug. 16, the highest since May 1 when 188 beds became available. The prefecture's current available bed capacity remains at 188.

Tokyo added 1,830 new infected patients in the week between Aug. 12 and 18, about 1.6 times higher than that in Osaka Prefecture.

Still, Tokyo had 32 patients with serious symptoms as of Aug. 19.

Unlike Osaka Prefecture, as of Aug. 18, Tokyo has not counted patients being treated in ICUs who are not on a ventilator or an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which is a lung bypass machine, as having serious symptoms. 

Despite the difference in assessing serious cases, it is undeniable that Osaka Prefecture is having to fend with many patients suffering serious symptoms of the disease.

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