Photo/Illutration The Asahi Shimbun

The occupancy rate of hospital beds was exceeding 50 percent in 18 of 47 prefectures as of July 26 amid the seventh wave of COVID-19 cases in Japan.

The benchmark is one of the criteria for determining that general medical treatment needs to be restricted as hospital beds for COVID-19 patients are running low.

More than 60 percent of hospital beds were filled in seven prefectures.

A panel of experts advising the health ministry on COVID-19 measures called on the public to act to prevent infections to maintain the health care system, along with social and economic activities, at a meeting on July 27.

The government is maintaining a cautious stance on restricting such activities, however.

New cases hit a record high of nearly 210,000 across the country on July 27.

The daily average of new cases for the week ending July 26 rose in all prefectures compared to the average of the previous week. The figure was 2.85 times the tally in Miyagi Prefecture, 2.67 times in Akita Prefecture and 2.61 times in Toyama Prefecture.

The nationwide average increased 1.89 times compared to the week before. The average of the week ending July 19 was 1.79 times compared to the week before that. It shows no sign of abating.

The occupancy rate of hospital beds increased in many prefectures, according to the report compiled by the Cabinet Secretariat. The rate reached 85 percent in Okinawa Prefecture, 74 percent in Shizuoka Prefecture and 71 percent in Kanagawa Prefecture.

The other prefectures with an over 50 percent occupancy rate were Aomori, Fukushima, Ibaraki, Saitama, Chiba, Ishikawa, Shiga, Osaka, Hyogo, Wakayama, Hiroshima, Fukuoka, Nagasaki, Kumamoto and Kagoshima.

Hospitals are now struggling with bed shortages for COVID-19 patients.

The numbers of severely ill patients and deaths continued to rise and are expected to increase further.

Takaji Wakita, head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases who heads the expert panel, said the experts agreed that infection cases need to be curbed.

He said restrictions on activities would be an option.

Wakita reiterated his call on people to wear masks, wash their hands and properly ventilate rooms. He also said it is important for the central and local governments to support the efforts of the public.

Hiroshi Nishiura, a professor of environmental hygienics at Kyoto University, pointed out the Omicron subvariant BA.2.75, which some experts say is more transmissible than BA.5, could already be spreading in the capital.

(This article was written by Yoshinori Hayashi, Kai Ichino and Yuki Edamatsu.)

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