TOKYO: The medical services situation in Japan is not strained yet, as it still has vacant hospital beds secured for coronavirus patients, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday.

Hospital beds for coronavirus patients “are not tight yet, if we look at the situation in Japan as a whole,” Kato told a press conference.

Meanwhile, the percentage of occupied hospital beds reserved for coronavirus patients rose by over 10 percentage points in some prefectures in a week, raising fears that the country’s medical care system may be overwhelmed.

In the week ended Wednesday, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients across the country rose to 4,034, up from 2,744 in the previous week, raising the bed occupancy rate to 20 percent, up from 14 percent.

The rate rose from 21 percent to 39 percent in the central prefecture of Aichi, while it increased from 24 percent to 42 percent in the western prefecture of Osaka. The southernmost prefecture of Okinawa saw its rate rise from 4 percent to 37 percent.

The three prefectures have been seeing a surge in the number of new cases.

Including the three, the bed occupancy rate increased by over 10 points in 12 of the country’s 47 prefectures. Shiga saw its rate rise from 10 percent to 37 percent, and Fukuoka’s rate grew from 26 percent to 37 percent.

Tokyo’s bed occupancy rate rose from 30 percent to 38 percent.

Kato said that the government is closely watching progress in prefectural efforts to secure more hospital beds and the number of patients with severe symptoms.

“We need to increase the number of medical care staff if we are to accept more patients,” Kato said. “If the number of patients with severe symptoms increases, burdens on medical personnel will increase,” he said.

JIJI Press