The government now plans to have new coronavirus patients displaying mild symptoms stay at hotels or other accommodations in principle, the health minister told reporters on Thursday.
Until now, patients with mild symptoms have stayed either at home or at accommodation. However, the government changed the policy after a man in Saitama Prefecture died at home while waiting for a hospital bed. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry sent a notice to prefectural governments on Thursday.
"Since a patient's condition could suddenly change, using these facilities will help ensure the safety of the patients," the Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Katsunobu Kato said, explaining the policy change.
According to a previous manual compiled by the health ministry, when a COVID-19 patient stays at a facility, at least one full-time nurse will stay at the facility during the day, and an on-call doctor is called to see the patient when needed. In the manual, if patients stay at home, officials of prefectural governments or other institutions only heard about their health condition about once a day.
Currently, 32 prefectures including Tokyo are preparing accommodations for COVID-19 patients. "The system to have patients stay at alternative accommodations has been underdeveloped so far, but now, a system has been established in a fair number of regions," Kato said, explaining why the government changed its policy at this time.
Having patients with mild symptoms stay at hotels is also aimed at preventing the infection from spreading among family members. However, patients who have specific reasons to stay home, such as having children, are allowed to stay home.
The health ministry is trying to shift toward a medical care system where severely ill patients will be given priority. As for mild to moderate patients, the ministry plans to use temporary medical facilities.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said to The Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday that the Tokyo metropolitan government plans to rent hotels and have all mild COVID-19 patients in Tokyo stay at those hotels.
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