Photo/Illutration Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, left, speaks at the metropolitan government’s expert panel on responses to the COVID-19 health crisis at its office in the capital on Aug. 26. (Rihito Karube)

There could be “numerous (unreported) COVID-19 patients” out in public because of the lack of available tests, as foot traffic increased in the capital, experts warned on Aug. 26. 

The Tokyo metropolitan government’s expert panel on response to the COVID-19 health crisis reported that foot traffic in entertainment and shopping areas in the capital, currently under a state of emergency, increased sharply after the Bon summer holidays.

Pedestrian traffic as of the middle of August decreased 29.1 percent from the week prior to the fourth state of emergency, declared on July 12, while the same volume for the week through Aug. 25 dropped only 16.5 percent.

The Tokyo metropolitan government has set a 50 percent goal in reduction of foot traffic, but the level is returning to the one seen prior to the state of emergency without the number of new COVID-19 patients dropping sufficiently.

The expert panel reported that the daily average of new novel coronavirus cases for the week through Aug. 25 was 4,388, 95 percent of the figure for the preceding week.

The positivity rate, however, remained high at 20.7 percent. Experts pointed out the possibility of numerous infections among the population that have not been detected due to the lack of available testing. 

Foot traffic was recorded for visitors in seven entertainment and shopping areas, including Shinjuku’s Kabukicho and Shibuya.

During the daytime between noon and 6 p.m. foot traffic in the areas decreased only 13.3 percent compared to the week prior to the emergency declaration. During late night between 10 p.m. and midnight, considered to be a high-risk period for infections, it also dropped only 14.7 percent.

In comparison, foot traffic for the week through Aug. 14 fell 24.7 percent during the daytime while it fell 36.4 percent during the late-night hours.

The panel also reported that older adults between 40 and 64 accounted for a higher percentage of the foot traffic than those between ages 15 and 39 during all time frames.

Atsushi Nishida, director of the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, who researched foot traffic patterns in the capital, urged those middle-aged and senior citizens to avoid nonessential outings.

“The high-risk actions of the middle-aged and senior citizens could threaten their lives and also trigger infections among their families and workplaces,” he said.

(This article was written by Rihito Karube and Yoshitaka Unezawa.)

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