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Omicron may account for 90% of new COVID-19 cases in Osaka in Jan

A rapid spread of the variant should be assumed, it added. (AFP)
A rapid spread of the variant should be assumed, it added. (AFP)
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29 Dec 2021 04:12:18 GMT9
29 Dec 2021 04:12:18 GMT9

TOKYO: The omicron variant of the novel coronavirus is projected to account for 90 percent of new COVID-19 cases in Osaka Prefecture, western Japan, in mid-January, according to an analysis shown at a meeting of a health ministry advisory board on Tuesday.

Osaka’s proportion of omicron cases is expected to top 90 percent on Jan. 11, according to the analysis by Kyoto University professor Hiroshi Nishiura and other experts.

The effective reproduction number, or the average number of people infected by a single carrier, for the omicron variant is estimated to be 2.64 times that of the delta strain on Jan. 11, according to the experts.

The advisory board warned that the number of people who need to be hospitalized may increase rapidly due to the spread of the omicron variant.

While the omicron variant has been shown to have a lower risk of causing serious symptoms, its infectious power is a cause for concern, the advisory board said.

A rapid spread of the variant should be assumed, it added.

At the meeting of the advisory board, health minister Shigeyuki Goto said that U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co.’s oral COVID-19 drug molnupiravir has been delivered to some 900 medical institutions and pharmacies across Japan and that the drug has been administered for the first time in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan.

Meanwhile, advisory board members and others called on the Japanese government on Tuesday to revise its current policy of hospitalizing all omicron carriers and to make decisions on hospitalization depending on the severity of symptoms to prepare for a rapid increase in new omicron cases.

JIJI Press

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