OSAKA -- Yellow lights were illuminated Sunday on landmark towers in Osaka, as the prefectural government announced that day that 32 new cases of the novel coronavirus had been identified.
Tsutenkaku tower was one of the locations lit up in yellow in keeping with the so-called Osaka model, to warn local residents against the spread of the virus. The model is a set of independent standards for asking Osaka residents and others to refrain from patronizing places to eat or drink where proper measures to prevent infection are not taken.
Infection could spread from young people who visit nightlife areas to middle-aged and older people. Therefore the prefectural government has called on local people to refrain from going to such places, on the basis of the revised law concerning special measures to cope with new-type influenza.
According to the prefectural government, the new 32 cases ranged from a preschool child to people in their 70s, with all 32 showing minor symptoms or being asymptomatic. Among these people, the infection routes were unknown for 21 patients. By age group, there were 21 people aged 39 or younger, and 11 were 40 or older.
Under the Osaka model, yellow lights are illuminated when three conditions are all met. First, the average number of cases over the previous seven days for which the infection route is unknown increases to at least double the number in the seven days before that.
Second, the average number of cases over the previous seven days for which the infection route is unknown is at least 10. And finally, there has been a total of at least 120 new cases over the last seven days, with more than half of them identified in the last three days.
On Sunday, the average number of cases over the previous seven days for which the infection route was unknown had risen to 2.16 times the level of the previous seven days. The average number of such cases was 13.29, and there had been a total of 142 new cases. As the figures in all areas topped the yardsticks, a yellow alarm light was illuminated at the Tsutenkaku tower in Osaka and at the Tower of the Sun Museum at Expo'70 Commemorative Park in Suita at 8 p.m. Sunday.
The total number of infected patients in the prefecture has reached 2,027, with Osaka becoming the second prefecture to exceed the 2,000 mark after Tokyo.
Since mid-June, there has been a conspicuous number of infections among young people, but the prefectural government said infections may be spreading from this age group to people in their 40s and older. Such a case was confirmed on Sunday -- a man in his 20s had infected other members of his family who live together.
The prefectural government on Sunday held a meeting of the headquarters to deal with the novel coronavirus. Decisions were made on such issues as asking local residents to refrain, until the end of this month, from eating and drinking at establishments where proper measures to prevent infection are not taken.
The headquarters will decide whether it should keep the request in place from August based on the spread of infections in the days ahead.
Osaka Gov. Hirofumi Yoshimura said to reporters after the meeting: "We want people to avoid environments where saliva could fly about. In particular, we want people who are engaged in services related to nightlife districts to take thorough measures to prevent infection from spreading."
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