The Tokyo metropolitan government is considering making the number of coronavirus patients in serious condition a threshold for asking restaurants and other companies to shorten business hours, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
Tokyo is planning to set a figure of "50 or more" or "75 or more" seriously ill patients as the peg, with details still being discussed.
The central government's subcommittee on measures to combat the novel coronavirus on Friday recommended shortening the business hours of restaurants in areas where infections are on the rise.
The government has also indicated it will subsidize prefectures when they pay restaurants for curtailing business hours when asked by the prefectural government to do so.
In the week to Monday, the single-day average number of new coronavirus infections in Tokyo was a record 441.6. However, there were 41 coronavirus patients in serious condition as of Monday, less than half of the 105 patients at the end of April when the first wave of the pandemic occurred. Under these circumstances, the metropolitan government has not asked restaurants to trim business hours because of the significant economic and social consequences such a request would have.
But there are concerns that the number of coronavirus patients in grave condition may also increase as infection rates surge.
Currently, 150 beds are allocated in Tokyo for critically ill coronavirus patients. The metropolitan government is considering setting a threshold of 50 or 75 patients as a criterion, city officials said, adding that they will also determine the need for an index other than the number of critically ill patients.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, 331 cornavirus patients were in critical condition nationwide as of Monday, the highest number ever. The occupation rates of beds for critically ill patients were 37% in Tokyo and 28% in Osaka Prefecture as of Nov. 18, with numbers trending upward in urban areas.
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