The explosive spread of the new coronavirus means Okinawa Prefecture now meets all six criteria for "stage 4" in the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry's latest status report on the pandemic.
The ministry announced new data for all prefectures Friday.
Prefectures such as Aichi, Tokyo and Osaka met three or four criteria, putting them at "stage 3" and highlighting the continuing spread of the virus.
In Okinawa, 71.1% of the hospital beds the authorities are trying to secure for the pandemic's peak are filled, a rise of 22.6 percentage points from the previous week and exceeding the stage 4 criteria of 50%.
The prefecture also had high levels in other items, including the positive rate in PCR tests and percentage of patients with unknown routes of infection.
In prefectures such as Tokyo, Osaka and Fukuoka, the status of hospital beds and other items fell under the criteria for transitioning to stage 3.
On Aug. 7, the government's response subcommittee, which includes experts, decided on six items that include the availability of hospital beds.
Stage 4 is when the government begins considering declaring a state of emergency, although the central and prefectural government would need to make a comprehensive final judgment of the state of the pandemic.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
