As COVID-19 infections mount, Japan at last expands testing
18 April, 2020
Japan, alarmed by rising coronavirus deaths and the spectre of the collapse of the medical system, is scrambling to expand testing with drive-through facilities and general practitioners assisting to collect samples.
For weeks Japan has limited its testing for the coronavirus, which emerged in neighbouring China late last year, despite calls from many health experts who see testing as vital to detecting and isolating cases and slowing the spread.
Japan conducted about 52,000 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests in March, or just 16 % of the number carried out in South Korea, according to data from Oxford University.
Experts say Japan's strategy of keeping the amount of PCR tests low has managed to get difficult to trace the disease since it spread in Tokyo and other big cities and resulted in a wave of in-hospital infections, crippling some facilities.
Your choice to expand testing came as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe this week expanded circumstances of emergency, at first issued for Tokyo and six other areas, to the complete country, and warned of the growing burden on health facilities.
"With help from regional medical associations, we will create testing centres. If home doctors are determined testing is essential, test samples are taken at these centres and sent to private inspection firms," Abe told a news conference on Friday (Apr 17).
"Thus, the responsibility on public health centres will be lessened."
While the measures marked a shift in policy, it remains to be seen how effective they'll be, specialists say, as Japan struggles with red tape, staff shortages and the lack of centralized decision-making with no single agency coordinating the response to the condition.
There's been widespread criticism that phone lines for public health centres, create by local governments and tasked to conduct screening for PCR test candidates, are always busy as persons become more worried about infection.
Tokyo remains the hardest-hit place in Japan, with an archive 201 additional cases reported by its governor on Friday, for a complete of 2,796.
Japan's total infections stand at more than 9,800, with 207 deaths, according to a tally by public broadcaster NHK.
HELPING HAND
As part of effort to boost testing capacity, several general practitioners' groups in Tokyo have stepped up to shoulder the duty of examining potential patients and taking test samples from them, which is currently conducted mainly by doctors working most importantly hospitals, who already are overstretched.
"This is to avoid the medical system from crumbling. Everyone must extend a helping hand. Otherwise, hospitals would break down," said Konoshin Tamura, deputy head of a link of general practitioners in Tokyo's Suginami ward.
"Also, in order for PCR tests to be conducted more widely, we have to get used to the complete process and see what the coronavirus really does," said Tamura, who runs a clinic specialising in internal medicine and paediatrics.
Due to one of the four Suginami hospitals where general practitioners are taking turns to see suspected coronavirus patients, two white tents were set up this week in anticipation of more virus-related visits.
In another bid to create PCR tests more available, the health ministry on Wednesday suggested to local governments that drive-through tests can bolster their capabilities.
Kenji Shibuya, head of the Institute for Population Health at King's College, London, and other scientists, have repeatedly said since early in the outbreak that Japan should introduce the type of drive-through testing that South Korea has.
A day following the health ministry's advice, the city of Chiba, east of Tokyo, launched drive-through testing, and many others are looking to follow suit.
"It's quite clear we are seeing a lot more patients who need testing. That is one of our methods to expand," a Chiba official said.
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