The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry has released a 13-item checklist for patients with mild or no symptoms of the new coronavirus to determine if their condition has worsened and requires immediate attention.
The move is aimed at patients who are staying either at home or hotels secured by local governments as temporary accommodations, as well as their families, to allow them to be diagnosed by a doctor at an early stage if they take a turn for the worse.
The ministry, fearing a shortage of hospital beds for patients with severe symptoms due to a recent spike in infections, has allowed patients with mild symptoms to convalesce at home or in lodging facilities.
But, in response to the deaths of two men in Saitama Prefecture while staying at home in April, the ministry devised a new policy to move such patients to hotels and other accommodations for treatment in principle, with the exception of those who need to take care of children or have unavoidable circumstances.
As it is important for the infected and their family members to notice changes in their symptoms while recuperating either in lodgings or at home, the ministry identified 13 symptoms that indicate the necessity for immediate attention. These include external changes such as blue lips, and physical problems such as difficult breathing which make the patient unable to lie down, or need to sit down to breathe.
The ministry will set up a system in which an infected person who has one symptom on the list can consult the resident nurse at the accommodation facility, or a public health center in cases of staying at home, and then be examined by a doctor as needed.
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