BBC News
Published
image captionAll elderly are to get vaccinated by the end of July
Japan has kicked off a mass vaccination programme in Tokyo and Osaka, as the Covid crisis worsens.
The military has set up centres offering thousands of shots each day, prioritising the elderly.
The country s vaccination drive started late and was hampered by supply shortages and organisational hurdles.
As a result, Japan is lagging significantly behind other developed nations. Only about 1.9% of the population is fully vaccinated.
Japan s efficient healthcare system has been increasingly overwhelmed by the latest surge, with some hospitals running out of beds and ventilators.
Hospitals in Japan s Second Largest City on Brink of Collapse Due to COVID Wave
On 5/24/21 at 10:31 AM EDT
Hospitals in Japan s second largest city of Osaka are on the brink of collapse due to the latest COVID-19 wave that have left health systems scrambling to find enough beds, ventilators and staff to meet the needs of an influx of patients. Simply put, this is a collapse of the medical system, Kindai University Hospital Director Yuji Tohda told Reuters. The highly-infectious British variant and slipping alertness have led to this explosive growth in the number of patients, Tohda said.
Although Japan has largely avoided the massive coronavirus surges that other countries have faced, a fourth pandemic wave has overwhelmed Osaka, which has seen a fivefold jump in positive cases over recent weeks, compared to figures from three months ago. The city s coronavirus dashboard also shows that hospital beds reserved for severe symptom patients are at 83% capacity as of Monday.
USA TODAY
The opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics is less than two months away, but plenty of questions remain about how host nation Japan will manage the large-scale event despite public health concerns amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
An influx of thousands of athletes, coaches and media members to the country –currently dealing with challenges to the health care system it had yet to encounter during the pandemic – will only complicate the situation.
The Olympics run from July 23 to Aug. 8, and the Paralympics will take place from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5.
As sports and life look to be on the verge of a return to normal in the United States, here is a look at the situation in Japan:
US authorities have warned against traveling to Japan for the Tokyo Olympics which start in July
Both the CDC and Health Department advise Americans avoid all travel to the country, which is experiencing a brutal fourth wave
Covid cases in Japan s second-largest city of Osaka jumped five-fold in three months leading to protests calling for the Games to be canceled
Beds and ventilators are running short, while medical staff are exhausted
Thousands of doctors have joined growing calls to abandon the Tokyo Olympics