TOKYO: Haruo Ozaki, head of the Tokyo Medical Association, has expressed a strong sense of urgency over the possibility of hospitals in the Japanese capital becoming incapable of saving patients, given the recent increase of hospitalized people amid the pandemic.

“We’re approaching a situation where we cannot protect coronavirus patients as well as general patients,” Ozaki told a press conference on Tuesday.

As of the same day, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in Tokyo came to 1,850.

With more and more middle-aged and elderly people contracting COVID-19, those who get hospitalized are increasing and the periods of their hospitalization are getting longer, according to Ozaki. “A substantial burden has been placed on medical treatment systems,” he said.

Ozaki expressed his regret over the request the Japanese government made for elderly people to refrain from traveling to and from Tokyo under its Go To Travel tourism promotion program, saying, “The effective way (to stop the spread of infections), to my opinion, is to stop the movement of people of all ages.”

JIJI Press