Connect with us

Asia

Japan identifies 15 clusters of COVID-19

Japan has identified 15 clusters of COVID-19 cases across 10 major regions, according to official data.

Japan’s ministry of health, labor and welfare released a map of the clusters on Monday showing the affected regions, which include Hokkaido, Niigata and Chiba prefectures, in addition to the Tokyo metropolitan area and Osaka, NHK reported.

Some regions have multiple clusters, including Hyogo Prefecture, Hokkaido, Aichi and Chiba prefectures. Hyogo Prefecture has reported three clusters, while Hokkaido, Aichi and Chiba prefectures have each reported two clusters of COVID-19, according to Tokyo.

Four of the 15 clusters involve five to 10 cases; 10 clusters involve 10 to 50 people infected; and one cluster involves at least 50 cases of COVID-19, the Japanese government said.

Hitoshi Oshitani, a professor of virology at Tohoku University’s graduate school of medicine, and Hiroshi Nishiura, professor in the graduate school of medicine at Hokkaido University, are the authors of the new map. Their analysis includes sites visited by patients in affected areas, according to reports.

Japan has said it does not plan to cancel the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics amid the pandemic that began in China and has now killed thousands of people around the world. The country has confirmed 1,541 cases and 34 deaths.

Zhang Wenhong, a Chinese infectious disease expert at the Fudan University-affiliated Huashan Hospital in Shanghai, has said the pandemic is expected to last beyond the summer, Taiwan’s ET Today reported.

It is “almost unlikely” the disease will recede by the end of the summer. Zhang also said China’s “darkest hour” is over and suggested he was surprised how quickly the disease spread outside China.

“I though if China could control it well, the rest of the world would be able to control” infections, he said, according to reports.

Zhang also expressed concern the disease would be “reimported” into China from Europe.

 

Continue Reading