The health ministry has asked the nation's prefectures to beef up their health care systems and create a more resilient means of dealing with a projected sixth wave of COVID-19 infections this winter.
Japan is known for having the world’s highest number of hospital beds per capita, but that has not spared the country's medical system from nearing collapse in major metropolitan areas. The spread of the highly infectious delta variant had led to daily nationwide caseloads of nearly 26,000, including more than 5,700 in Tokyo alone, in August.
The government is hoping the country's gradually rising rate of fully vaccinated people — which vaccine rollout minister Taro Kono said Friday could reach around 80%, up from the current 60% — could help reduce the number of daily infections, serious cases and deaths.