Department of Human and Engineered Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Chiba, Japan.
National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Biosci Trends. 2021 Mar 15;15(1):1-8. doi: 10.5582/bst.2021.01019. Epub 2021 Jan 29.
The first case of COVID-19 in Japan was reported on 16 January 2020. The total number of the infected has reached 313,844 and the number of deaths has reached 4,379 as of 16 January 2021. This article reviews the characteristics of and responses to the three waves of COVID-19 in Japan during 2020-2021 in order to provide a reference for the next step in epidemic prevention and control. The Japanese Government declared a state of emergency on 7 April 2020, which suppressed the increase in the number of the infected by curtailing economic activity. The first wave peaked at 701 new cases a day and it decreased to 21 new cases on May 25 when the state of emergency was lifted. However, the number of the infected increased again due to the resumption of economic activity, with a peak of 1,762 new cases a day during the second wave. Although the situation was worse than that during the first wave, the government succeeded in limiting the increase without declaring a state of emergency again, and that may be attributed to a decrease in crowd activities and an increase in the number of inspections. During the third wave, the number of the infected continued to exceed the peak during previous waves for two months. Major factors for this rise include the government's implementation of further policies to encourage certain activities, relaxed immigration restrictions, and people not reducing their level of activity. An even more serious problem is the bed usage for patients with COVID-19; bed usage exceeds 50% not only in major cities but also in various areas. On 7 January 2021, 5,953 new cases were reported a day; this greatly exceeded the previous peak, and the state of emergency was declared again. Although Japan has been preparing its medical system since the first wave, maintaining that system has imposed a large economic burden on medical facilities, hence stronger measures and additional support are urgently needed to combat COVID-19 in the coming few months.
日本首例新冠肺炎病例于 2020 年 1 月 16 日报告。截至 2021 年 1 月 16 日，感染人数已达 313844 人，死亡人数达 4379 人。本文回顾了 2020-2021 年日本新冠肺炎疫情的三波特点和应对措施，以期为下一步疫情防控提供参考。日本政府于 2020 年 4 月 7 日宣布进入紧急状态，通过限制经济活动来抑制感染人数的增加。第一波疫情的高峰出现在每天新增 701 例，4 月 25 日紧急状态解除时降至每天新增 21 例。然而，由于经济活动的恢复，感染人数再次增加，第二波疫情的高峰达到每天新增 1762 例。尽管情况比第一波更糟，但政府成功地限制了感染人数的增加，而无需再次宣布紧急状态，这可能归因于人群活动的减少和检查次数的增加。在第三波疫情中，感染人数连续两个月超过前几波的峰值。感染人数上升的主要因素包括政府实施了进一步鼓励某些活动的政策、放宽移民限制以及人们没有降低活动水平。更严重的问题是新冠肺炎患者的床位使用情况；不仅在主要城市，而且在各个地区，床位使用率都超过了 50%。2021 年 1 月 7 日，报告的单日新增病例数达到 5953 例，这大大超过了之前的峰值，因此再次宣布进入紧急状态。尽管日本自第一波疫情以来一直在为其医疗系统做准备，但维持该系统给医疗机构带来了巨大的经济负担，因此在未来几个月，急需采取更强有力的措施和提供额外支持来抗击新冠肺炎疫情。
