Photo/Illutration Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, right, attends a meeting of metropolitan officials and health experts on the response to the novel coronavirus on Aug. 12. (Provided by the Tokyo metropolitan government)

Tokyo reported 4,989 new cases of COVID-19 on Aug. 12, its second highest for a single day after the 5,042 tallied on Aug. 5.

COVID-19 patients in serious condition topped 200 for the first time to hit a record 218 in the capital as health experts called the spread of infections “out of control.” They issued a dire warning that Tokyoites are on their own to protect themselves as the health care system can no longer function due to the flood of patients.

Six new deaths from COVID-19 occurred in the capital, according to metropolitan health officials.

The daily average of new cases over the week through Aug. 12 came to 3,976, an increase of 9 percent from the figure for the preceding week.

The 218 serious cases represented an increase of 21 from the day before. Metropolitan officials define serious cases as patients requiring a ventilator or ECMO heart-lung bypass machine to breathe.

At a Aug. 12 meeting of experts on response to the coronavirus and metropolitan officials, Norio Omagari, director of the Disease Control and Prevention Center under the National Center for Global Health and Medicine, used a strong term to sound an alarm over the capital’s situation.

“We are in an emergency as the virus is raging at a disaster level,” he said.

It was reported at the meeting that the daily average of new cases over the week through Aug. 11 stood at 3,934, more than double, compared with two weeks earlier, indicating that infections are spreading at an unprecedented pace.

Omagari said if the current pace were maintained, the seven-day average of new cases could hit 5,113 on Aug. 25.

“We will not be able to save people’s lives” that can be saved under the normal circumstances, he said. “We are at a stage where each of us need to act to protect our own lives.”

Masataka Inokuchi, vice chairman of the Tokyo Medical Association, said the capital’s health care system has become dysfunctional due to the deepening health crisis.

“Regular medical care, including emergency care and scheduled surgeries, has also been seriously affected,” he said. “Maintaining the health care system would be difficult if the pace of the spread (in the coming weeks) remains at the same level as now.”

Hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Tokyo totaled 3,667 as of Aug. 11, with 56.8 percent of the beds filled, according to officials.

Most of the serious cases reported were among patients in their 40s and 50s.

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