Photo/Illutration Takaji Wakita, chairman of the advisory board of experts to the health ministry and head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, speaks at a news conference in Tokyo after the panel’s meeting on Feb. 24. (Kai Ichino)

While new cases of COVID-19 have been slowly falling, the number of people dying from the disease--mostly among the elderly--is not receding and is hitting record daily highs.

That is according to a new analysis of the sixth wave of novel coronavirus infections by a health ministry advisory board, published at its meeting on Feb. 24.

The daily average number of deaths due to COVID-19 nationwide over the week through Feb. 23 was 225.

The board pointed out that new cases have only gradually decreased during this part of the sixth wave. It said this is a different trend from the fifth wave, when the fast take-up of vaccines drove new cases downward much more sharply.

And it warned the number of new cases could soon surge nationwide once again. It noted the prefectures of Yamagata and Okinawa, two of the five prefectures where pre-emergency measures ended on Feb. 20, saw more fresh cases this week than last week.

The board also expressed concerns about the rising occupancy rate of hospital beds for seriously ill COVID-19 patients. The number of seriously ill patients, especially among the elderly, has remained high.

According to data shown at the meeting by Motoi Suzuki, director for the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the median age of 255 people, who showed serious COVID-19 symptoms and whose cases were reported to the institute by Feb. 16, was 73.

The median age of 343 people whose deaths from COVID-19 were reported to the institute by the same date was 87.

At the meeting, some experts called for further relaxations of restrictions on the movements and behavior of people who have come in close contact with those infected with the coronavirus.

They pointed out that because the Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is much more contagious, public health centers cannot stem its spread by identifying everyone who is a close contact.

They said the strict restrictions on the movement or behavior of people who are close contacts disrupt social functions, for example, by forcing medical staff to take off work.

They said that restricting the movements of those who are close contacts when the spread of the virus is peaking is not very effective. However, they added that it is useful for those who come in close contact with a family member of the same household who is infected with the coronavirus.

(This article was written by Kai Ichino, Yuki Edamatsu and Kayoko Geji.)

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