TOKYO: The occupancy of hospital beds for COVID-19 patients as of Wednesday rose from a week earlier in 37 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, according to the health ministry.

The COVID-19 bed occupancy rate topped 25 percent in nine prefectures, reaching “Stage 3,” the second worst of the four epidemic stages.

A government panel said on Friday night that the supply-demand balance for medical services is “highly likely to become tight” in such areas as the northern and western prefectures of Hokkaido and Hyogo, respectively, where the bed occupancy rate jumped 10 or more percentage points for two weeks in a row.

In Hokkaido, the number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients surged 259 in the previous week to 693, with the hospital bed occupancy rate climbing to 38 percent. The number of patients with severe symptoms stood at 20, and 11 percent of beds for such patients were occupied.

In Tokyo, the COVID-19 bed occupancy came to 33 percent, with 1,312 infected people hospitalized. Meanwhile, the occupancy of beds for severely ill patients in the Japanese capital hit 37 percent, the highest level across the country.

An advisory panel for the health ministry has listed the Chubu central and Kansai western regions, in addition to Hokkaido and the greater Tokyo area, as regions where infections are spreading remarkably.

In the Chubu region, Aichi Prefecture saw the bed occupancy rate increase 10 points to 33 percent. In Kansai, the occupancy rate was up 8 points at 41 percent in Osaka Prefecture, while Hyogo logged the highest reading in the country, of 44 percent.

As of Nov. 11, the COVID-19 bed occupancy rate was the highest in the southern prefecture of Okinawa, at 36 percent. The rate in Okinawa inched down to 35 percent as of Wednesday this week.

The nationwide occupancy rate came to 22 percent for hospital beds for COVID-19 patients, up 5 points from a week before, and 14 percent for beds for those with severe symptoms, up 3 points.