A health official said it had become difficult to balance the care of COVID-19 patients with regular ones as hospital beds filled up, and a “red” alert for medical preparedness had been assigned for the first time. “We fear a serious dysfunction of the medical system in two weeks, on December 31, if the number of new daily infections keeps growing at the current pace,” Masataka Inokuchi, vice chair of the Tokyo Medical Association, told a news conference attended by Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. Tokyo issued a special coronavirus alert for the year-end and new year periods to raise public awareness, Koike said. A month ago, Tokyo raised its coronavirus alert for new infections - a separate category - to the highest level. It had kept its alert for medical preparedness at the second-highest level at the time, indicating a need to boost hospital capacity but a notch below critical conditions.

Source: bd News24 December 17, 2020 14:03 UTC