The government subcommittee on coronavirus response has agreed that the hospitalization rate of COVID-19 patients will be added as one of the government's indicators to measure how strained the medical system is because of the pandemic.
To contain the spread of the virus, the subcommittee agreed to review the indicators on Thursday.
The hospitalization rate represents the percentage of inpatients compared to the total number of COVID-19 patients, including those being treated at home and at accommodation facilities such as at hotels. During the third wave, there were many cases in Tokyo and other areas where people in need of hospitalization could not be admitted and had to wait at home.
Analysis of past data suggests that the medical system is considered strained if the hospitalization rate drops below 40%. As the new indicator, if the hospitalization rate falls to 25% or lower, it will be at Stage 4, which is the most serious level. Stage 3 is when the rate is between 25% and 40%.
Classifications for existing indicators, such as the number of patients treated per 100,000 people and the percentage of people who test positive, were also adjusted based on past data from municipalities where infections increased. The new classifications clarify the differences between Stage 3 and 4. Regarding the percentage of positive PCR test results, the benchmark for Stage 3 will be changed to 5% or more from 10% or more, while that for Stage 4 will remain unchanged at 10% or more.
Along with these adjustments, the subcommittee also proposed two new indicators to monitor the spread of the virus and recommended that the central and local governments use them. The indicators are "new infection cases by age" and "the number of people at entertainment districts at night."
The subcommittee decided on these new indicators because when infections start increasing, the virus tends to spread among young people and usually when the number of people at entertainment districts increases.
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