phone rings. back at base, staff are constantly working the phones, trying to find beds. so what if there s an outbreak at the paralympics? yeah, i think there are no room to treat the paralympic members because manyjapanese people cannot get into the hospitals. it s time to move again. a new address and a new set of ppe. like the first man, this patient has not been vaccinated. this is the pattern now. the man is in bad condition. his lips are turning blue and he s having difficulty breathing. dr tashiro thinks he may have pneumonia. he really needs to be in hospital. it is really difficult for us to make a definite diagnosis. so he needs to go to hospital now? yes, yes, yes, definitely. and what did they say,
no, no beds. dr tashiro and his team are keeping these people alive. but across tokyo, there are now more than 10,000 covid patients waiting for a hospital bed. each extra day they re forced to wait, the more likely it is they will die. rupert wingfield hayes, bbc news, in tokyo. really worrying situation there in japan. as thousands flee for safety from afghanistan for a new life in the uk, another group abandoning their homeland of hong kong say safety and security are being provided in name only once they arrive in britain. after a crackdown on dissent and protests in hong kong by the chinese authorities, the uk government offered a route out at the end of january this year under british national visa applications. but many former hong kong residents are finding that once they arrive in the uk housing, education and support is severely lacking.
last week, that had jumped to 50. back at base, staff are constantly working the phones, trying to find beds. so what if there s a covid outbreak at the paralympics? i think there s no room to treat the paralympics members, because manyjapanese people cannot get into hospitals. it s time to move again a new address and a new set of ppe. like the first man, this patient has not been vaccinated. this is the pattern now. the man is in bad condition his lips are turning blue and he s having difficulty breathing. dr tashiro thinks he may have pneumonia he really needs to be in hospital. it is very difficult for us to make a definitive diagnosis. so he needs to go to hospital now? yes, yes, definitely. and what did they say? are there any beds do you know yet?
dr kazuma tashiro is trying to find a hospital bed for one of his covid patients. in this densely packed part of southern tokyo, there are now dozens of covid patients who need to be in hospital but can t get a bed. dr tashiro and his team are a literal lifeline. in this block, a 61 year old man is very sick and on oxygen. so, last night, i called him to check if he was alive and he could talk with me at the time. but this morning, i couldn t talk with him by phone, so i m very anxious for his healthy conditions. as soon as he enters, its apparent the man is alive. it turns out he hasn t been able to pay his phone bill, so it s been cut off. he s also removed his oxygen mask, and as he checks, he finds his blood oxygen level is very low.
his blood oxygen level is only 92%. it is not good for you. so i put the mask to his mouth. and, please keep it to keep you alive. so what ll happen now with his bill? oh, this is for the telephone bill! he s living alone, so he couldn t pay the telephone bill because of his very bad condition. so i ve received it, and now i m going to the convenience store to pay for it. it s the arrival of the delta variant here injapan that s led to this explosion of covid cases. if you look back to mid july, there were around 1,500 new cases a day. by august, that had jumped to 6,000. now we re seeing the same with the seriously ill. at the end ofjuly, dr tashiro and his team were treating just one seriously ill person.