THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
August 16, 2022 at 18:40 JST
The Tokyo metropolitan government building in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
Tokyo reported 23,511 new COVID-19 cases on Aug. 16, down 5,604 from the same day a week ago, and 22 deaths among patients in their 50s to 90s.
The daily average of new cases over the week through Aug. 16 in Tokyo was 25,578.6, or 82.8 percent of the average for the preceding week.
People in their 40s represented the largest age group of new patients, at 4,465, followed by 4,304 in their 20s, 4,249 in their 30s and 3,151 in their 50s.
There were 2,262 cases involving people 65 or older.
The occupancy rate of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients in Tokyo was 59.9 percent, while 35 percent of hospital beds for severely ill patients were filled, officials said.
The Tokyo metropolitan government said it would consider asking the central government to issue a state of emergency for Tokyo if the occupancy rate of beds for seriously ill patients was between 30 and 40 percent.
The metropolitan government defines seriously ill patients as those requiring ventilators or ECMO heart-lung bypass machines.
Their number dropped by two from the previous day to 36 on Aug. 16.
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