The Tokyo Metropolitan Government said Thursday that an additional 150 beds have been newly secured to treat coronavirus patients in the capital following a request from authorities.
On Aug. 23, the health ministry and the metropolitan government called on all medical institutions in Tokyo to accept COVID-19 patients and secure beds for such people where possible. The request was based on the revised infectious disease prevention law.
At a metropolitan government meeting for monitoring coronavirus measures, it was reported that there were 6,117 beds for COVID-19 patients in Tokyo as of Wednesday, up from 5,967 on the day of the request. Of them, 465 beds were for severely ill patients, up from 392.
Although the figures increased, Tokyo is still short of achieving its goal of securing 7,000 beds.
“We ask for further cooperation,” Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said after the meeting.
The revised law allows the metropolitan government to reveal the names of medical institutions that refuse to meet the request without a proper reason. Koike, however, declined to be specific about such action.
The seven-day average of daily new COVID-19 infection cases in Tokyo came to 3,140 as of Thursday, down from the week-earlier figure of 4,352.9.
“(The average) may have temporarily decreased following the reduced foot traffic due to the Bon holiday period,” Norio Omagari of the National Center for Global Health and Medicine said.
Omagari also voiced concerns that the number of infection cases may rise again.
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