Japan, alarmed by rising coronavirus deaths and the specter of the collapse of the medical system, is scrambling to expand testing with drive-through facilities and general practitioners helping to collect samples.
Medical workers walk by tents set up to test for the coronavirus disease infection at Kawakita General Hospital in Tokyo, Japan, April 17, 2020. . REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Experts say Japan’s strategy of keeping the number of PCR tests low has made it difficult to trace the disease as it spread in Tokyo and other big cities and led to a wave of in-hospital infections, crippling some facilities. There has been widespread criticism that phone lines for public health centers, set up by local governments and tasked to conduct screening for PCR test candidates, are always busy as people become more worried about infection.
“This is to prevent the medical system from crumbling. Everyone needs to extend a helping hand. Otherwise, hospitals would break down,” said Konoshin Tamura, deputy head of an association of general practitioners in Tokyo’s Suginami ward.
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