It often takes nearly a month for the Tokyo metropolitan government to announce the deaths of people from COVID-19, which is leading to delays in the central government's announcements of compiled figures for all 47 prefectures.
Infections with the novel coronavirus are spreading again, and the number of seriously ill people and deaths is increasing. Experts warn that delay in ascertaining the situation may lead to a delay in implementing countermeasures, further exacerbating the situation.
Each time a death from COVID-19 is confirmed, the relevant prefectural government posts on its website information regarding the deceased person's age and gender, as well as the course of their illness from the development of symptoms to death.
The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry compiles these information from prefectural governments and posts it on the ministry's website as the nationwide death toll.
The metropolitan government decided to announce the age, gender, place of residence, date of diagnosis with COVID-19 (or the date infection with the novel coronavirus was confirmed) and date of death for each deceased person. Since the end of May, the metropolitan government has released the information regardless of the wishes by the bereaved families.
From July on, however, there has been a big gap between the date of a patient's death and the date of the announcement.
For example, a man died from COVID-19 on June 18, but the metropolitan government announced the death 43 days later, on July 31. For the other six deaths announced in July, it took four to 24 days from the date of death (or the date a person was found to be infected, if the infection was discovered posthumously).
In August, there has been a gap of nine to 14 days between the deaths of four people and the announcement of their deaths.
Explaining why it takes so long, a metropolitan government official said, "There have been cases in which medical institutions were slow to report deaths, and some public health centers have decided to report deaths to the bereaved families first, out of consideration for them."
In principle, the consent of the bereaved family is unnecessary when a deceased person cannot be identified by the announcement of information related to their death. However, even if the metropolitan government plans to announce a death and asks the local public health center to confirm the details, some public health centers apparently do not respond until they have contacted the bereaved family.
Other local governments also contact the bereaved families of the victims and obtain their consent for the announcement.
Nevertheless, the delay in the metropolitan government's announcements is conspicuous.
According to information compiled by The Yomiuri Shimbun, local governments nationwide announced between June 1 and Aug. 16 that 205 people had died from COVID-19. The date of death for 168 of these persons could be confirmed on the local governments' websites.
Of the 34 deaths in Tokyo, there was an average gap of 7.56 days between the date of death or the discovery of infection, and the date of announcement. In contrast, most of the 134 deaths outside Tokyo were announced either on the day of their deaths or the following day, for an average delay of 1.13 days.
"To verify measures taken by the central and local governments and utilize them for effective prevention of infection, we need data on the change in the number of fatalities, in addition to the number of people infected, on a daily basis," said Mitsuyoshi Urashima, a professor of preventative medicine at The Jikei University School of Medicine.
"The government must make local authorities aware of the need for the prompt release of accurate information," Urashima said.
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