THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
November 12, 2021 at 17:50 JST
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks at the government’s task force headquarters on anti-COVID-19 measures at the prime minister’s office on Nov. 12. (Koichi Ueda)
The government finalized its countermeasures against a possibly more contagious novel coronavirus strain on Nov. 12, including securing hospital beds for an additional 10,000 COVID-19 patients and starting booster shots in December.
“The virus is now relatively contained, but it is important for us to be prepared for the next infection resurgence, assuming a worst-case scenario,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said at the government’s task force headquarters on anti-virus measures.
The measures agreed upon at that meeting take into account that the sixth wave of infections could involve a strain twice as contagious as the Delta variant that spread during the fifth wave in summer.
Many infected people could not find available hospital beds or proper treatment during the fifth wave because the surge in COVID-19 cases overwhelmed medical services.
Staff shortages and other technical reasons resulted in COVID-19 hospital beds remaining empty in some areas, despite the overwhelming demand.
Under the new measures, the government will turn public hospitals into facilities exclusively for COVID-19 patients, and the bed occupancy rate for COVID-19 patients will be pulled up to more than 80 percent.
The government promised that, overall, hospital beds for 37,000 COVID-19 patients would be set aside by the end of this month.
That would be an increase by around 30 percent from summer, when 28,000 infected people required hospital treatment at the peak of the fifth wave.
The number of rooms in accommodation facilities for patients with mild symptoms will be increased by 30 percent to 61,000 from those available in summer.
The booster shot program starting in December will target people who received their second shots at least eight months earlier.
Medical personnel will be at the top of the priority list, followed by elderly people who can receive their third shots beginning in January.
The government also plans to conduct workplace vaccinations at universities and companies around March.
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