Japan\u2019s Health Minister, Shigeyuki Goto, on Tuesday said the country had strengthened its medical capacity to be able to receive 37,000 patients at hospitals in preparation for a possible resurgence of the COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Goto said at a news conference in Tokyo that the Government had met its goal, which was officially decided in November, of securing more beds at hospitals.<\/p>\n
The minister said that the Government would review the policy when needed due to rising concerns over the Omicron variant of the COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be flexible in coming up with a way of offering medical care\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
The decision came after a fifth wave of infection cases in Japan this summer, during which many people were forced to recuperate at home, with cases where people died at home without being hospitalized.<\/p>\n
Infection cases in the country have declined dramatically, while concerns remain over a possible sixth wave of infections, especially after the highly contagious Omicron variant was detected.<\/p>\n
Japan has confirmed three cases of the strain as of Monday. The government data showed about 77 per cent of the population had finished the full vaccination against the virus.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed on Monday in his policy speech to \u201cprepare for the worst\u201d in dealing with the Omicron variant.<\/p>\n
Kishida said his Government would shorten the time from the previous eight months between receiving a second shot and being eligible for a booster vaccine.<\/p>\n
The COVID-19 booster shot programme in Japan had started on Wednesday for individuals who received their second shot at least eight months ago.<\/p>\n
Health care professionals across the country are the first in line for third doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE, to be followed by the elderly in the near future.<\/p>\n
Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiji Kihara said on Sunday that the government was eyeing approving Moderna Inc.\u2019s COVID-19 vaccine for use as a booster along with the Pfizer vaccine.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
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Japan\u2019s Health Minister, Shigeyuki Goto, on Tuesday said the country had strengthened its medical capacity to be able to receive 37,000 patients at hospitals in preparation for a possible resurgence of the COVID-19. Goto said at a news conference in Tokyo that the Government had met its goal, which was officially decided in November, of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":2496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[238],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foreign"],"yoast_head":"\n