According to media reports, with the virus raging in Japan, there is still no turning point in the eighth wave of the epidemic in Japan. On December 25, there were 149,665 new infections and 306 new deaths in Japan. For six consecutive weeks, Japan has ranked first in the world in terms of the number of new infections. It has a tendency to catch up with its big brother in the United States. Some people can’t help but ask: Japan, once a model student in fighting the epidemic, what happened?
It has been three years since the global pandemic of the new coronavirus began. Countries have gone from strictly guarding against the virus at the beginning to implementing various differentiated epidemic prevention policies.
Among them, Japan's anti-epidemic policy has always attracted the attention of the Chinese people, because unlike our country's strict defense and Europe and the United States' direct "laying down", Japan has been trying to find a path of dynamic balance on the road to epidemic prevention and control.
Therefore, anti-epidemic measures are erratic. When a virus comes, they often immediately guard against it, but then gradually relax it soon afterwards, thus repeatedly testing the "bottom line" of the virus. Some netizens said that Japan's anti-epidemic measures are like doing "sit-ups".
Japan’s epidemic prevention and control policy
On January 16, 2020, the first case of the new coronavirus appeared in Japan for the first time, and the first round of infection peak began at the end of March. On April 7, Japan announced the " emergency declaration " for the first time. Indoor places such as restaurants were suspended, and large-scale activities were also suspended.
This trick was indeed effective. As the number of infections gradually declined, the first round of emergency declaration was lifted on May 25. Japan has returned to normalcy again. In order to promote consumption, the Japanese government has even launched travel subsidies to encourage people to consume. Everything seems to be on the right track again.
However, this virus is so cunning that it can take advantage of any slack and soon the epidemic will come back again and enter the second wave of infection. However, Japan did not declare a second round of emergency at that time.
By April 2021, with the raging delta strain , Japan declared its third state of emergency and concentrated on implementing epidemic control in four key areas. However, the convening of the Tokyo Olympics led to an increase in the number of overseas arrivals. In July, Japan declared its fourth state of emergency, which ended at the end of September.
In January 2022, the Omicron variant brought Japan into the sixth wave of infections. In July, as entry restrictions continued to be relaxed, Japan entered its seventh wave of infections. This round was dominated by the highly transmissible BA.5. During the peak period, daily new cases reached 260,000, and the number of deaths in August reached 7,328, which was the country's highest number of deaths in a single month since the outbreak.
In October 2022, Japan announced the lifting of all control restrictions. It has only been two months since. As for why Japan suddenly relaxed its epidemic control, the reason is actually very simple: the economy cannot survive, and the epidemic forced Japan to relax its control.
However, letting go does not mean ignoring it at all. Japanese patients can call the hospital after being diagnosed. If they have mild symptoms, they will be quarantined at home for ten days. If they are severe, they will go to the hospital for hospitalization.
People who are quarantined at home can also apply for "food packages" from the government, which are generally enough for a single person to eat for 10 days. Logistics support can be ensured
Of course, Japan implements a "voluntary" principle. Patients can voluntarily choose to be isolated at home or hospitalized, voluntarily apply for "food packages", voluntarily receive vaccinations (Japan leads the world in vaccination rates), and voluntarily take special medicines (medical insurance claims twice, and they can recover without taking them).
We can clearly see from the table that after Japan relaxed control, the number of confirmed cases every day reached more than 100,000, and the cumulative number of confirmed cases so far has reached more than 28 million. It has to be said that after the epidemic control is relaxed, there will indeed be a rebound, but this is a period of pain that must be experienced.
Moreover, research shows that the severe case rate of COVID-19 among people over 60 years old in Japan is 0.14%, and the mortality rate is 0.5%. In comparison, the serious rate of influenza is 0.79%, and the mortality rate is 0.55%. It can be seen that the severity rate of COVID-19 is significantly lower than that of influenza, but the mortality rate is almost the same.What happened to Japan after the liberalization of
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It has been some time since Japan relaxed its epidemic control. However, the current situation in Japan is not optimistic, which has also cast a shadow on my country's subsequent epidemic prevention and control.
According to relevant data: On December 25, there were 149,665 new infections and 306 new deaths in Japan. The turning point of the eighth wave of the epidemic has not yet been seen.
What is even more worrying is that a highly contagious and lethal strain has emerged in Japan, called Cerberus, also known as BQ.1.1. The reason why it is called Cerberus virus is that this mutant virus may have the advantage of immune evasion than other subtypes of strains, which means it is easier for people to be infected.
In other words, as the Cerberus virus spreads in Japan, the number of new cases in Japan may reach a peak again. As a close neighbor of Japan, as our country has relaxed epidemic control, even the inbound nucleic acid test has been cancelled. It is conceivable that the Cerberus virus will definitely spread in the country in the future.
The distribution of mutant strains currently prevalent in my country are BA.5.2 and BF.7. Currently, the mutant strains popular in Beijing are mainly BF.7, while the mutant strains popular in Guangzhou are mainly BA.5.2, which is still slightly less contagious than the Cerberus virus.
Of course, you don’t have to worry too much, because experts have stated that as long as this virus is still a branch of , Omicron, and , its virus toxicity, morbidity, and infectivity will not change essentially.
But believe it or not, it’s up to you. After all, when the epidemic control was relaxed, experts also said: more than 90% are asymptomatic and mild patients, just like a cold. Who knew this cold was so serious.
The epidemic in Japan is so serious that it should focus on the management of the domestic epidemic, but the funny thing is that Japan seems to be very concerned about the epidemic in our country, as our country gradually relaxes epidemic prevention and control.
Japan seems to be facing a formidable enemy. According to Kyodo News Agency news on December 27, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio announced: Starting from the 30th, all people who have traveled to Japan from China and who have been to China within 7 days will be tested for nucleic acid upon entry, and those who are positive will be quarantined for 7 days. Before Japan, countries such as India and Italy also began to increase their nucleic acid testing requirements for travelers from China.
Fumio Kishida announced that emergency measures to strengthen entry epidemic prevention will be implemented from 0:00 on the 30th, and all persons traveling to Japan from China and those who have been to China within 7 days will be tested upon entry. In principle, those who are nucleic acid positive will be quarantined in isolation facilities for 7 days, and additional flights from China will be restricted.
I am also drunk with this decision of Japan. Under the current epidemic situation, does Japan really think that its country is a popular country? We Chinese really like to go to Japan. This is a very funny decision. The current epidemic situation in Japan is not much stronger than that in our country.
Today, Japan is experiencing the eighth wave of the pandemic, with the number of new infections, hospitalizations, and deaths continuing to increase. Nowadays, the number of infections every day has even reached more than 200,000, and the death toll has even exceeded 300.
Japan now has a total population of 126 million, but more than 28 million people have been infected with the new coronavirus cumulatively, and more than 55,000 people have died from the epidemic. And two-thirds of them died this year.
It can be seen from these situations that Japan still has not found a balance point to get along with new crown , and the implementation of its "coexistence" measures is still difficult.
Lessons from Japan
To be honest, although Japan is our close neighbor, its epidemic development situation is not referable at all. After all, we are a big country with a population of 1.4 billion.
Moreover, there are huge differences between the two countries in many aspects such as vaccination, population structure, medical resources , etc., so we only need to understand the epidemic in Japan.
But people who have experienced this virus should have a deep feeling that this is definitely not a common cold. After all, how can a common cold cause death?
Therefore, everyone must not be careless in work and life, especially families with elderly people and children at home. They must take it more seriously, get vaccinated as early as possible, and prepare various medicines, masks, etc. to nip it in the bud.
The National Health Commission issued an announcement on the evening of the 26th, renaming new coronavirus pneumonia to new coronavirus infection ; starting from January 8, 2023, "Category B and B control" will be implemented for new coronavirus infections.
At the same time, starting from January 8, 2023, the prevention and control measures for Class A infectious diseases stipulated in the "Law of the People's Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases" for new coronavirus infections will be lifted; This means that the three-year epidemic prevention era is truly over.
From now on, there will only be plague and cholera . They are still in the management mode of Class A infectious diseases, which must be stopped by all means as soon as they appear. The new crown, like AIDS , viral hepatitis , poliomyelitis and other diseases, will have a more complete, mature and process-based system to deal with it.
Following the declaration of Class B B tubes, specific plans were also introduced. In the future, the construction of basic hospital equipment will be strengthened, hospital capacity will be expanded, the supply of medicines will be maintained, and treatment will be carried out according to the classification of different groups of people. As well as further promoting the vaccine , these prevention and control measures are inevitable.
I believe that in the near future, COVID-19 will eventually become history, and we will eventually return to the era before the epidemic. Let us look forward to it together!
