The governor of Osaka, Japan, recently warned that hospitals in the region are on the “brink of collapse” amid an increase in COVID-19 cases.
“Medical systems are on the verge of collapse,” Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura told the Associated Press on Wednesday during a news conference.
According to the Associated Press, according to health officials in the region, about 70 percent of the hospital beds in Osaka are now occupied with COVID-19 patients, who have asked Yoshimura to declare a ‘medical emergency’.
On Wednesday, 878 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Osaka, and the region has now reported more than 56,000 confirmed cases of the virus.
According to a Johns Hopkins University tracker, Osaka has the second most confirmed cases of the virus following Tokyo, with more than 123,000 cases.
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See below for more Associated Press reporting.
Yoshimura, who earlier only asked to cancel the torch relay in Osaka city, said all segments on public roads should be canceled. The Olympic organizing committee said later Wednesday that it would hold the Osaka leg of the Olympic torch relay, scheduled for April 13-14, at the 1970 Osaka Expo Memorial Park.
The Tokyo Olympics begin in just over three months with the vaccination of Japan still in its infancy. Experts believe more infectious new variants of the virus are emerging more and more and are urging health officials to respond quickly to prevent an explosive increase with only a fraction of the people being vaccinated.
The measures come two days after Yoshimura issued a series of special virus control measures only for the city of Osaka, following Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s decision to place the prefectures of Osaka, Hyogo and Miyagi under an emergency.
Osaka’s neighboring prefecture Hyogo is also facing a boom and began introducing special virus measures in four cities on Monday, along with Sendai, a city in northern Miyagi prefecture.
Infections have also risen elsewhere in the western region, which experts say requires additional virus protection measures and home requests, which could potentially lead to the cancellation of more flare-up events, a further setback for the Olympics.
Yoshimura said he plans to issue an emergency call for Osaka district residents not to avoid necessary outings from Thursday.
Yet experts say Tokyo is on a rebound, with people going in groups, going to work and eating and partying at restaurants and bars.
“A new wave of infections has begun. There is no doubt about it,” said Ryuji Wakita, director general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, who heads the COVID-19 advisory board of the government.