A lack of human resources and the delta variant could dent Japan's highly successful track record when it comes to treating severe COVID-19 cases, doctors say.
On Friday, there were a record 2,060 patients with severe symptoms in the country, marking an all-time high for the 16th straight day. Such patients need to be admitted to intensive care units for treatment, including being put on ventilators or an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machines.
Japan has around 1,400 ECMO machines, by far the most of the world. The state-of-the-art equipment is used as a last resort to remedy serious lung and heart problems by running the blood of patients with respiratory or cardiac failure through an artificial lung. It has proven to be wildly successful in treating severe cases of COVID-19.