Japan fears Covid-19 variants are behind possible fourth wave – MENAFN.COM

Japan fears Covid-19 variants are behind possible fourth wave – MENAFN.COM

Japan's prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, speaks during a press conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan on March 18. Suga has insisted Japan will carry out the Olympic Games as scheduled. (MENAFN - Gulf Times) Japanese health authorities are concerned that variants of the coronavirus are driving a nascent fourth wave in the pandemic with just 109 days remaining until the Tokyo Olympics. The variants appear to be more infectious and may be resistant to vaccines, which are still not widely available in Japan. The situation is worst in Osaka, where infections hit fresh records last week, prompting the regional government to start targeted lockdown measures for one month from Monday. A mutant Covid-19 variant first discovered in Britain has taken hold in the Osaka region, spreading faster and filling up hospital beds with more serious cases than the original virus, according to Koji Wada, a government adviser on the pandemic. "The fourth wave is going to be larger," said Wada, a professor at Tokyo's International University of Health and Welfare. "We need to start to discuss how we could utilize these targeted measures for the Tokyo area." Japan has twice declared a state of emergency that