Tokyo reported a daily record of 1,591 on Wednesday coronavirus cases as the national government prepares to declare a state of emergency this week to tackle a new wave of infections. Those in need of critical care in the capital have also reached 113 people, according to the metropolitan government.
Toshio Nakagawa, head of the Japanese Medical Association, called the situation “extremely serious” but did not criticize Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga for acting too slowly to contain the latest outbreak, as some have suggested.
“Please take this virus seriously, and do not think it’s just another flu,” Nakagawa said, warning that hospital care was getting thin.
Japan has confirmed more than 250,000 cases, including more than 3,700 deaths.
Photo by KAZUHIRO NOGI / AFP via Getty Images
Elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific Region:
Thailand plans to extend testing to thousands of factories in a province along Bangkok, as it reported 365 new cases in the country and one new death on Wednesday. Authorities have focused their efforts on migrant workers, particularly in the seafood industry in Samut Sakhon province, which has been at the center of the new outbreak. They are also trying to track down traveling gamblers who travel widely and are blamed for a second major hotspot outside Bangkok. Among the new cases, 250 are transferred locally under Thais and 99 migrant workers. The rest are overseas arrivals. That brings the total to 9,331, including 66 deaths, of which the youngest long-distance truck driver worked at Samut Sakhon. Taweesilp Visanuyothin, a spokesperson for the COVID-19 coordination center, said there were plans to test workers at more than 10,000 factories in Samut Sakhon, of which 100 have more than 500 employees each. The government has ordered a partial exclusion in Thailand, with strict travel restrictions in some areas. Schools, pubs, gambling stalls and other public gathering places have been closed, although shopping centers, department stores and restaurants remain open for limited hours.
Hebei in China maintains stricter controls following a further increase in coronavirus cases in the province adjacent to the capital Beijing, which is due to events for next year’s Winter Olympics. The National Health Commission on Wednesday reported another 20 cases in Hebei, bringing the province from 39 to 39 since. The provincial official said residents of areas classified as medium or high risk, mainly in the cities of Shijiazhuang and Xingtai, are being tested and banned from going out. Those in neighborhoods who are considered medium risk can only leave after showing a negative test for the virus. Classes are moving online and school bedrooms are in lockdown. A few cases were also reported on Wednesday in Beijing and the provinces of Lioaning and Heilongjiang, where mass tests and restricted locks were also applied. Liaoning’s provincial capital, Shenyang, has ordered people in 16 districts to stay at home and anyone wishing to leave the city must submit a negative test within 72 hours of departure, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Beware of another spate of infections, China urges migrant workers to stay seated during the lunar New Year holiday next month. School classes were dismissed early and tourists were told not to come to Beijing.
The U.S. Navy in the Pacific has begun administering COVID-19 vaccinations to thousands of sailors. The 7th Fleet says a week after medical personnel and strategic forces received their first shots at Naval Hospital in Yokosuka, Japan. The fleet contains about 20,000 sailors who operate 50-70 ships and submarines and 140 aircraft. The vaccination is part of a “priority, phased approach” adopted by the Department of Defense to “protect our people, be ready and support the national COVID-19 response,” the Navy said. Vaccinations are offered on a voluntary basis. Among those vaccinated were sailors aboard the USS Ronald Reagan, the fleet’s only leading deployed aircraft carrier. The fleet fought with COVID-19, especially in March aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, where more than 1,200 personnel were infected. After a memorandum from the captain of the ship warned that the threat had leaked, he was fired by the then acting naval secretary, who himself was dismissed amid the controversy.
Police in Sri Lanka have begun conducting mandatory tests for people who do not wear masks and maintain social distance in public places, in the last step to contain the coronavirus. Police spokesperson Ajith Rohana said the tests were a complement to legal action against those who violated the quarantine laws. Police on Tuesday arrested 1,060 people in Colombo and suburbs and 14 of them tested positive for the virus. A fresh outbreak occurred in October when two bunches – one centered at a clothing factory and the other at a fish market – emerged in and around Colombo. The confirmed cases of the two groups reached 41155 on Wednesday. Sri Lanka reported a total of 45,728 cases with 217 deaths.
Indonesia has recorded 8,854 new cases of coronavirus, another daily record, as President Joko Widodo announced the start of a vaccination program. Widodo said in a televised speech that he would get a chance to build confidence in the vaccine on January 13. “Next week, I will be the first to be vaccinated with the vaccine to show that it is safe and halal as the vaccination program begins nationwide,” Widodo said. The state-owned pharmaceutical company Bio Farma has distributed 3 million doses of the vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech across the archipelago, where more than 270 million people live. The new cases on Wednesday bring the country’s confirmed total to 788,402, the most in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia with only 10.3 million confirmed cases in India. 23,296 deaths were recorded. The government aims to vaccinate 70% of the population, or at least 182 million people, with health workers enjoying the highest priority.