Joe Tomei here, another CoVID update from Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott

Hello Kumamoto,

Here are some additional updates for today:

・Additional cases in Kumamoto (32 total cases in Kumamoto Prefecture) Two additional case have been confirmed since our last update. One (case 31) is a male company manager/executive in his 40s in the Aso Area. He reported his recent medical history and symptoms as follows: On 3 April, he began experiencing impairment to his sense of smell and taste. The next day, he had a cough and went to a medical clinic. On 8 April, he had a temperature of 39.5℃, and visited the same clinic again the next day. On the 10th, he went to the same hospital again, where he was confirmed to have pneumonia, and from that day he stopped going to work. Based on the decision made by the clinician in charge of his case, he was referred for a PCR test through the Aso Health Centre. In the two week period following the initial emergence of symptoms, the patient continued going to work. Although he sometimes did not wear a mask, he did wear a mask during meetings. He is thought to have been in contact with 2 family members and 5 other colleagues. https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/common/UploadFileOutput.ashx?c_id=3&id=32300&sub_id=7&flid=231719

The second (case 32) is of a male in his 60s in Kita-ku. Further details are yet to be released. https://this.kiji.is/623037048256136289

Cases 28, 29 and 30 (No 22, 23, and 24 for Kumamoto City), which we mentioned in the last update, have been confirmed to be connected with one another. Both men living in Chuo-ku reportedly worked together with the Nishi-ku woman in her 20s whose infection came to light on 13 April. https://kumanichi.com/news/1428842/

・Multilingual information offered by Kumamoto Prefecture The Kumamoto Prefectural Government is currently working on expanding the availability of information on COVID-19 in languages other than Japanese. General public health guidance, news about new cases, and information about financial support for individuals and businesses are being posted to the official website of both the Kumamoto Prefectual Government and the prefecturally-run Kumamoto Support Center for Foreign Residents. Here are links to the available information:

① Q&A on COVID-19 - currently available in French, Korean and Vietnamese https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/hpkiji/pub/List.aspx?c_id=3&class_set_id=1&class_id=7061

② Information about COVID-19 in Kumamoto - currently available in English only http://www.kuma-koku.jp/support-center/page156.html Contains information on all confirmed cases in Kumamoto, info on consultation centres for workers/employment adjustment subsidies, subsidies for parents and guardians of elementary school students, support options for single parents, human rights support, immigration information, etc.

・Worst-case scenario projection made public by member of Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare’s Cluster Task Force Professor Hiroshi Nishiura of Hokkaido University, member of the Ministry of Health Labour and Welfare’s Cluster Task Force, explained the projection of a worst-case scenario for Japan if the country does not take measures to prevent the spread of infection. Nishiura explained that according to the task force’s projections, if no measures are taken, the number of serious cases requiring ventilators would peak 60 days from now, with serious cases totalling 850,000 (200,000 between the ages of 15 and 64, and 650,000 over the age of 65). Nishiura explains that there are currently 13,000 ventilators available in Japan, which is about 1.5% of the total number required for the worst-case scenario. The projections assume that around half of all serious cases would result in death, meaning a total of 410,000 would be expected to die from COVID-19 in Japan if no measures at all were taken to prevent the spread of infection. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200415/k10012387961000.html?utm_int=news_contents_news-main_003

・Public apology by Vice-Governor Vice-Governor Tajima made a public apology for forwarding false information claiming to come from within the Japanese Red Cross Medical Center in Tokyo. The Vice-Governor received the message from a friend over the LINE messaging app and forwarded the LINE message to management within the kencho, which spread throughout the prefecture. https://this.kiji.is/622929671866762337

In fact, we have also received LINE chain-mail messages from various sources including such false information as “hot water kills the virus so take a hot bath and drink warm water”. In addition to hoax information, scams that are taking advantage of the situation have also been reported. Please beware of any text messages, emails and phone calls you receive. (e.g. receiving a suspicious call from someone claiming to be a city official, phone calls from the government telling you to go to a specific place for disinfection, suspicious mask sales advertisement emails, messages claiming that someone will send you free masks, etc.)

・Governor Kabashima agrees to a 30% pay cut Governor Kabashima has decided to take a 30% pay cut in recognition of the economic difficulty people are facing in the prefecture. The two vice-governors are also taking a 20% salary decrease. At the national level, MPs are also making arrangements to cut their remuneration by 20 per cent for at least one year. https://this.kiji.is/622990079876023393