A growing number of people are dying of COVID-19 at home as more infectious variants of the coronavirus fuel a fourth wave of infections and hospital resources are stretched to the verge of collapse.
Eighteen people have died of COVID-19 at home in Osaka Prefecture, 17 of them since March 1, as highly infectious strains of the virus caused a spike in cases, the prefecture said late Monday, reporting deaths outside hospital for the first time.
Prefecture officials did not give details of why the 18 people had not been admitted to hospital but news of their deaths came as more than 96% of the prefecture's critical care beds were occupied.