In preparation for the spread of novel coronavirus infections in the coming winter, the government has worked to establish systems to support medical institutions and health centers that experienced pressured working conditions in the first wave of infections.
Hokkaido is currently facing a rapid increase in infection cases. Sapporo City General Hospital earlier this month increased the number of beds for coronavirus patients to 70 from 57, but 62 of those beds were already filled as of Nov. 15.
"If the situation like this continues, we may have to stop accepting new patients," said a hospital official.
With demand for hospital beds high, hotels and other facilities are housing infected people with mild symptoms or no symptoms.
The current capacity of such accommodation facilities in Sapporo is 1,000 people, and the Hokkaido prefectural government plans to secure rooms for an additional 270.
"Although the situation remains quite tough, compared to when there were no such accommodation facilities for virus patients, we are now able to take appropriate measures depending on the condition of each patient," said a prefectural government official in charge of virus-related matters.
Initially, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry had stated that infected people should be hospitalized in principle, but in April it set rules that people with mild symptoms and asymptomatic cases would basically be treated at home or in accommodation facilities.
In October, the ministry decided that COVID-19 patients who should be hospitalized would in principle be limited to the elderly and called for making more thorough use of accommodation facilities. As of Nov. 11, fewer than 10% of such facilities nationwide were being used.
A system has also been established for dispatching additional public health nurses as needed to areas where cluster infections break out.
Under the system, the ministry acts as an intermediary to dispatch public health nurses and other staff across prefectural lines to municipalities that are experiencing staff shortages. Seven staff members were dispatched to Saitama City in July, while about 20 others from about 10 prefectures have been dispatched to Sapporo and elsewhere in Hokkaido since the beginning of this month.
"There was a time when we were unable to track down infection routes, but we are now able to respond to the situation thanks to a lot of help," said a Sapporo city government official in charge of virus-related matters.
Efforts are also being made among municipalities to help one another.
In Aomori Prefecture, the number of infections more than tripled from 37 to 122 in only about a week as of Oct. 12. The health center in Hirosaki, which originally had only 12 public health nurses, received a total of about 120 public health nurses and other personnel from the Aomori prefectural government and other health centers in the prefecture to respond to the situation.
Testing systems have also been improved.
In the first wave of infections, there were cases in which callers could not reach some health centers and as a result, they were unable to get tested. Based on lessons learned from this, the ministry has established a system that allows patients to receive tests from their family doctors and at other facilities without going through health centers.
As of Nov. 10, there were 24,629 institutions across the nation designated as facilities that are allowed to provide medical treatment and testing for patients suspected of being infected with the coronavirus.
However, some municipalities have not reached the target number of designated facilities.
"If infections spread rapidly at the current pace, there is a risk that testing facilities will get congested again, and patients will be sent from one place to another," a ministry official said, calling for prefectural governments to increase the number of designated institutions.
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