OSAKA -- The Osaka prefectural government, reacting to a rapid increase in the critical COVID-19 cases, for the first time raised its coronavirus alert level to red on Thursday, indicating a state of emergency on its independently devised scale.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura raised the level to declare a medical crisis in the prefecture as the medical system becomes increasingly stressed.
Based on the prefecture's criteria, a red alert is issued when the occupancy rate of the 206 hospital beds secured for critical patients in the prefecture reaches 70%.
As of Thursday, this percentage was 66%, up almost 15 points from last Saturday, when it was at 51.9%. The prefectural government has calculated that the percentage will exceed 70% on Tuesday, even if the number of newly infected patients per day remains about the same.
On Thursday, the number of critically ill patients reached a record 136.
That day, the prefectural task force decided to urge Osaka residents to refrain from going out as much as possible for non-essential, non-emergency reasons starting Friday. The request will remain in effect until Dec. 15, aligning it with a hiatus in the Go To Travel tourism promotion campaign.
The government has not specified what constitutes a non-essential, non-emergency outing. "How it is interpreted depends on the individual," Yoshimura said. "I leave it up to each person to make their own decision."
The prefectural government also decided to extend to Dec. 15 the period in which restaurants and other establishments that serve alcohol in Kita and Chuo wards of Osaka City to shorten their business hours by closing by 9 p.m.
For schools, there is no request to shorten school hours or stagger attendance, measures initially envisioned for when a red alert is issued, but urged them to restrict such activities as chorus or physical education classes that require students to come in close contact.
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