In the dim light of a small Tokyo apartment, Ryoichi Ichihashi kneels in blue protective gear to prepare a blood test for a bedridden mother infected with COVID-19.

Above the doctor, a plastic bag containing nourishing fluid dangles from a clothing hanger hooked to a curtain. Through an open doorway to the kitchen, the patient’s husband and one of her three sons watch anxiously as the doctor goes about his business and a nurse waits outside for him to finish.

The family shares a one-bedroom apartment where the middle-aged mother has it the worst, with symptoms including a steady fever, shortness of breath and dehydration as she waits for a hospital willing and able to take her in.