TOKYO: Japan’s Self-Defense Forces will shortly dispatch nurses to the northern and western prefectures of Hokkaido and Osaka, respectively, where the novel coronavirus is rapidly spreading, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga suggested Monday.

“With hospital beds for severely ill coronavirus patients running short, we’re responding to the situation with a strong sense of crisis,” Suga told a liaison meeting between the government and the ruling parties on the day.

“We’re ready to send the SDF if we receive requests from local authorities,” the prime minister said. “We’ll provide the utmost support.”

At the same meeting, Suga also indicated that the government will decide an additional stimulus package on Tuesday to shore up the economy amid the coronavirus epidemic.

At a press conference earlier in the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said the central government “will make full infection prevention efforts to curb the number of severely ill patients and fatalities, while closely cooperating with the Osaka and Hokkaido prefectural governments.”

Speaking to reporters in the city of Osaka, the prefecture’s capital, Osaka Governor Hirofumi Yoshimura revealed that the prefectural government had asked for SDF nurses to be dispatched to a new local facility for severely ill coronavirus patients.

At the facility, set to start operations on Dec. 15, the prefecture initially planned to hire about 130 nurses from those who have worked at intensive care units, but it has so far secured only about 80 such nurses, according to informed sources.

In Hokkaido, Asahikawa Mayor Masahito Nishikawa told a press conference that he had demanded the prefectural government ask the central government to send SDF nurses.

One of the country’s largest coronavirus infection clusters so far has occurred at a hospital in Asahikawa. “Our medical system is feared to collapse,” the mayor said.

JIJI Press