Deaths in the country, which for long had one of the lowest Covid death rates, peaked earlier this month.
Low immunity against Covid-19 and a growing population of frail elderly is driving a surge in coronavirus deaths in Japan which had, for a long time, upheld some of the strictest pandemic restrictions.
Japan was largely closed to foreign visitors from 2020 till mid-June last year. It opened its borders cautiously -Some schoolchildren had meals in silence for over two years as schools imposed bans on lunchtime conversations. "It is also difficult to prevent these deaths by treatment," says Hitoshi Oshitani, one of Japan's leading virologists, adding that Covid was only the trigger.
Before the Omicron variant struck, Covid-19 deaths mostly occurred in cities like Tokyo and Osaka, but there are now cases across the country, said Dr Oshitani, who was once regional adviser to the WHO on communicable disease surveillance and response. Faster treatment can help, he says, but because of Japan's classification of Covid as a Class 2 or "very dangerous" illness, only government-designated hospitals can treat the infected. And they have been overwhelmed by the surging caseload.
He says natural immunity is stronger than that obtained from vaccination - and so low infection rates have led to low immunity in Japan, which in turn is causing more deaths.
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