[ad_1]
Just a month ago, Hokkaido, the second largest island in Japan, was considered a success story for the localization, detection and isolation of coronavirus.
However, the news coming from there is not so good.
The second wave of confirmed infections has been observed in the region since this week, and it has again become the focus of attention. pandemic outbreak,
At the end of February, this territory with a population of more than five million people was the first to declare a state of emergency on Japanese soil due to Kovid-19.
Schools were closed, large-scale meetings were canceled, and neighbors were encouraged to stay home.
The local government resolutely pursued the virus, persistently tracking and isolating all who came into contact with the infected.
Politics worked in mid-March the number of new cases was reduced to one or two per day,
On March 19, the state of emergency was lifted, and in early April, schools reopened.
However, only 26 days after the gradual removal of restrictions, it was decided again Hokkaido Quarantine,
Hokkaido Governor declared a state of emergency on February 28.
It should be noted that local authorities acted independently of the central government, which only last week put Tokyo, Osaka and five other regions in a state of emergency. A national declaration took place this Thursday.
Hokkaido recorded last week 135 new confirmed cases from kovid-19.
Unlike the first outbreak in February, there is no evidence that the virus was reimported from outside of Japan.
None of the new infections is foreign, and over the past month, those infected have not traveled outside Japan.
Three lessons
What does this tell us about how the outbreak in Hokkaido managed?
There are at least three lessons.
First of all, you can control the flash. if you find it early,
“It’s relatively easy to separate the infected groups, control and isolate them,” explains Professor Kenji Shibuya of King’s College in London.
The expert claims that the Japanese authorities were very successful in their approach to controlling the agglomeration.
Hokkaido’s economy is highly dependent on tourism.
“Japan was in the initial phase of the outbreak at a time was found and became a success story“he points.
In this sense, Hokkaido has some similarities with what happened in the South Korean city of Daegu.
A major outbreak inside a religious cult was aggressively tracked there. The infected were isolated and the infection site was suppressed.
However, the second lesson that Hokkaido leaves us is far less encouraging.
After the outbreak in Daegu, the South Korean government launched a large-scale test program to try to track the epidemic. Japan did the opposite.
Even now, more than three months after the first case of infection was recorded in Japan that was doneAron a small percentage of the population,
The Japanese island was supposed to restore quarantine in less than a month after lifting the restrictions.
The government initially claimed that large-scale trials were a “waste of resources”, but in recent weeks it has changed its mindset and announced that the trials will be scaled up.
However, it was a slow process.
First, the Japanese Ministry of Health stated that there is a danger that hospitals will be overwhelmed by the number of people with a positive result. but they only represent “minor symptoms”,
In addition, exams in Japan are the responsibility of local medical centers, not the national government.
And some of these institutions simply do not have the staff or equipment to carry out large-scale tests.
Worst of all, the number of toll-free lines is overloaded with the number of people looking for information, and getting a referral to a doctor is a problem.
This combination of factors means that the Japanese authorities do not have a clear idea of how the virus spreads through the population, says Professor Shibuya.
“We are in the middle of the explosive phase of the outbreak“he adds.
“The main lesson that can be learned from Hokkaido is that even if containment was successful for the first time, it is difficult to isolate and maintain the lock for a long period. If the test coverage is not expanded, it is difficult to determine the public transmission and transfer to the hospital, “he explains.
Third long-term lesson
There is a third lesson, and this is that this “new reality” will last much longer than most people expect.
Hokkaido had to re-introduce restrictions, although the Japanese version of the “block” for covid-19 is much milder than the tax in other countries.
Most people still go to work. Schools may be closed, but shops and even bars remain open,
Kenji Shibuya believes that without tougher measures, Japan has little hope of controlling this so-called “second wave” of infections, which occurred not only in Hokkaido, but throughout the country.
The second wave of infections affected not only Hokkaido, but the whole country.
Another important lesson, the interlocutor says, is that “even if local containment is successful, but transmission occurs in other parts of the country while people are moving, it’s hard to keep the area free of the virus,” he concludes.
Economy
Even with milder restrictions than other countries, Hokkaido’s economy is already suffering greatly.
The island is heavily dependent on tourism, and Japan has banned travel from the United States, Europe and most Asian countries.
A friend who owns a bar in Chitose on the island was forced to close it and fire his employees.
In the north, in the city of Asahikawa, Naoki Tamura, who also owns the bar, said she keeps it open, but has almost no customers. Take one or two people per night,
“Before, there were many tourists from China and Southeast Asia, and they completely disappeared. Now on the street they do not speak a foreign language. Smaller bed places should be closed. Travel companies really suffer. ” moaning.
Hokkaido’s new state of emergency officially ends on May 6, at the end of the Golden Week holidays in Japan,
Although a local government official working on suppressing the epidemics in Hokkaido has already announced that, with this second wave, the restraint measures will last much longer.
“We believe that we should continue to do the same. The goal is to minimize contact between people in order to stop the spread of the virus, ”he said.
How long can this mean?
“Until we find the vaccine, we must continue to try to stop the expansion.”
[ad_2]
