Joe Tomei here with another update from the JET prefectural advisors, Bilal Khan & Lily McDermott.
===== Hello Kumamoto,
We hope everyone had a relaxing weekend. Here are some more updates:
Case updates for Kumamoto On 26 April, a student in her 20s living in Higashi-ku, Kumamoto City who was previously determined to have recovered from COVID-19 tested positive again. She was discharged from the hospital on 9 April after two consecutive tests returned negative, but on the 17th of April she reported feeling fatigued and noticed a loss in her sense of smell, and a PCR test determined that she was positive for COVID-19 once again. Kumamoto City officials are asking the national government for assistance to do a RNA analysis of her test samples to determine whether she was re-infected or the original infection re-asserted itself. The woman’s mother, a female in her 50s, also tested positive yesterday. https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200427/k10012406841000.html
In addition to the two cases mentioned above, 4 additional cases were reported in Kumamoto since our last update, bringing the current total to 47. http://www.kuma-koku.jp/support-center/page156.html#01
23 April - Female in her 50s, Kumamoto City – Clinical Technologist at Kumamoto Regional Medical Center. Developed a fever on April 19 and did not leave home. Same workplace as the 36th and 40th cases, however this case did not have contact with either of them.
24 April - Male in his 40s, Kumamoto City – Self-employed, attended work from April 13 – 18. Stayed at home since April 19
22 April - Female in her 60s, Kumamoto City – Related to the 42nd case
Finally, Kumamoto City announced that 104 staff and patients tested at the Kumamoto Regional Medical Center, in relation to Case 44, returned negative for novel coronavirus. https://kumanichi.com/news/1443281/
Proportion of positive test results on the rise The proportion of positive cases to the number of performed PCR tests in Kumamoto is slightly increasing, although it remains low in comparison to other areas of Japan. In the first week when testing began, the positive rate was 0.8%, and has since increased to 2.5% for the period between 19-23 April.
By comparison, in Fukuoka and Okinawa, the positive result rate between 19-23 April was 7.4% and 11.5% respectively. https://this.kiji.is/626606409831318625?c=92619697908483575
According to data released by the Ministry for Health Labour and Welfare, the rate for positive results between 15 January to 21 April in Tokyo is 39.4% (not including tests performed on Princess Diamond cruise patrons/crew or private hospital tests). https://www.mhlw.go.jp/content/10906000/000624007.pdf?fbclid=IwAR28HhddyY-gT8x_tf2YHYTxSlrRpih1F7ebkNlyJ0C0tFGr--V3EZAWSno
Kyushu Area Governors Conference: Do not travel outside your prefecture On 24 April last week the governors in Kyushu, Yamaguchi and Okinawa held a video conference with one another. In the meeting, they agreed to request the residents of all of their respective prefectures to avoid travelling across prefectural boundaries.
Here are the requests from Kumamoto Prefecture:
○Absolutely refrain from nonessential and non-urgent movement across prefectural lines.
○To reduce interactions by 80%, refrain from nonessential and non-urgent outings, meetings, etc.
○Avoid the “3 C’s,” even during everyday tasks such as going to the supermarket, going on walks, etc.
In Japanese, the first request is phrased 県境を越えた不要不急の移動を絶対にしない " - i.e. Absolutely do not (“zettai ni shinai”) move across prefectural boundaries for non-essential/non-urgent reasons.
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20200424-14285301-kbcv-l40 https://www.pref.kumamoto.jp/kiji_32686.html
10 important guidelines for achieving an 80% reduction in person-to-person contact The government’s COVID-19 response team held a meeting in which they agreed that the reduction in our interactions has not been sufficient to expect a significant reduction in new cases in spite of the declaration of a state of emergency. To provide the public with some specific advice on how to reduce our interactions with others, the team put together and released a set of 10 points on 22 April. Please check these 10 points out in the document here:
http://www.kuma-koku.jp/support-center/page165.html (in English) https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200422/k10012400721000.html (in Japanese)
