Japan avoided a surge in overall fatalities during its deadliest month of the coronavirus pandemic, indicating the country has been successful in limiting the damage from COVID-19.
Mortality across the nation dropped by 3.5 percent in May from a year earlier, with Japan recording a total of 108,380 deaths from any cause, data released Tuesday by the health ministry show. The month, during which much of the country was under a state of emergency, saw the most deaths so far from COVID-19. Japan officially recorded 468 coronavirus-related fatalities in May, almost half its total to date of 1,001.
Japan’s virus approach, choosing to avoid mass-testing in the early phases of the outbreak, has raised questions about whether the impact of the epidemic may have been worse than reported. But the data suggests the country, which has the fewest reported deaths of any Group of Seven nation, isn’t overlooking fatalities from the pandemic to a large degree.