Photo/Illutration Few pedestrians are seen strolling the alleys of the Shinsekai entertainment district in Osaka on April 9. (Eriko Kai)

OSAKA--Osaka Prefecture reported 1,099 new COVID-19 cases on April 13, prefectural government officials said, as the surge of new cases continues.

The high ratio of hospital beds in use for those with serious symptoms could continue for another month or so, according to the sources.

Pre-emergency measures to deal with the pandemic have been in place in Osaka city since April 5, but they have so far not shown any sign of reducing new cases.

The situation has been especially serious this month as daily case records were set on three consecutive days from April 6 when there were 719 cases. The figure rose to 878 the next day and to 905 on April 8. Another record of 918 was set on April 10.

In the seven days between March 31 to April 6, a record 4,146 new cases were reported, about four times the figure for two weeks earlier.

One prefectural government official dealing with the health crisis said, “The peak in infections will likely come this week or next.”

One characteristic of what prefectural government officials are calling the fourth wave of infections is the large ratio of young people infected.

Between March 15 and April 5, 55.1 percent of all new cases were patients under 40. That's about 10 percentage points higher than the 45.6 percent of the third wave that came last autumn.

Osaka prefectural government officials had urged caution about the risks of developing serious symptoms among senior citizens, but the ratio of those with serious symptoms and under 60 in age was 27.9 percent, much higher than the 17.5 percent of the third wave.

Prefectural government officials predict a further increase in those with serious symptoms as more infections spread from younger people to senior citizens.

That means an increasing urgency will be securing hospital beds for those with serious symptoms.

The prefectural government had secured 224 hospital beds for patients with serious symptoms and as of April 12, 90.6 percent of those beds were being used. Of the 219 hospital beds that can immediately accept patients, 92.7 percent are already in use.

 “The tight situation among hospital beds for those with serious symptoms will likely continue for about a month," a prefectural government source said.

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