COVID-19 death rate among Hokkaido dialysis patients higher than Japan average
July 9, 2021 (Mainichi Japan)
The office of the Hokkaido kidney disease patient liaison council is seen in Sapporo s Kita Ward on June 20, 2021. (Mainichi/Yui Takahashi) SAPPORO The COVID-19 death rate among artificial dialysis patients in Hokkaido was as much as 2.7 times higher than the national average. During May and June, when the fourth wave of infections hit Hokkaido, nearly half of the more than 100 kidney disease patients receiving dialysis who were infected with the coronavirus at hospitals and other places died. Many dialysis patients have not been vaccinated, and they fear daily for their lives.
Senior Correspondent
Coronavirus patients in Tokyo are being turned away from hospitals as medical services struggle to cope with a surge of infections. Public health centers are also under pressure, unable to deal with the volume of cases.
Daily new cases in Tokyo topped 2,000 last week as a state of emergency went into effect for the capital and the neighboring prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, and Chiba.
Health Ministry officials say that in the week through January 2, they were unable to secure spaces in hospitals or isolation facilities for more than 3,000 infected people. In just the past month, the number of cases has increased four-fold.