In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, government officials in Beijing urged residents not to leave the city, Japan banned all new inflows of foreigners until January and South Korea recorded the largest increase in cases on Christmas Day.
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A nurse collects a nasal swab sample from a car driver at a Covid-19 coronavirus PCR testing center at Fujimino Emergency Hospital on December 18, 2020 in Miyoshi-machi, Japan. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government confirmed 664 new coronavirus cases today, down from a record 822 yesterday.
Although none of them are among the best in the world in COVID-19 cases or deaths, China, Japan and South Korea are promoting strict blocking measures before 2021. Beijing public health officials have told residents not to leave during the Lunar New Year holiday until February and implemented new restrictions after a handful of new coronavirus infections last week. And while the United States saw its smallest daily increase on December 25, South Korea reported 1,241 new infections, its biggest daily increase so far.
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South Korea has seen more than 15,000 new cases being added in the past 15 days alone, which is happening alongside its deadliest two-week period since the pandemic began. Meanwhile, Chinese officials canceled all major meetings, including sporting events, during the new year of February 12, while all theaters, museums and libraries are operating at 75% capacity.
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Public health responses in South Korea and Japan were widely reported around the world in the early months of the pandemic, but now many scientists fear that that confidence is breaking down at the beginning of the new year. Officials in these two countries said stricter blocking measures are needed because transmissions are overtaking hospital expansion efforts.
“Our hospital system will not collapse, but the crushing of patients with COVID-19 significantly hampered our response,” Choi Won Suk, professor of infectious diseases at the University of Korea’s Ansan Hospital, told the Associated Press in an interview published Saturday.
“We have patients with all types of serious illnesses in our ICUs and they cannot share any space with COVID-19 patients, so it is difficult,” said Choi. “It is the same medical team that has been fighting the virus for all these months. There is an accumulation of fatigue.”
In Japan, final arrangements are being made to ban all non-Japanese from entering until January 31. Currently, only Japanese and foreign citizens with resident status are allowed to enter the country – all of whom must be quarantined for 14 days after arrival. As Reuters reported on Saturday, Japan confirmed a record 3,823 new infections on Friday, the biggest daily increase for the third consecutive day.
Japan has so far prevented a coronavirus outbreak at a level comparable to that of Europe or the United States, registering only 215,000 known infections and about 3,200 deaths. The United States, by comparison, has about 330,000 deaths linked to the virus and more than 18 million confirmed cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Despite new restrictions and public health concerns in the region, the USA, India, Brazil and Russia remain the countries with the most infections worldwide. But officials in Japan and the UK have reported their first cases of a new variant of COVID-19, raising concerns that vaccines and other treatments may soon become ineffective.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on December 14 that the peak of COVID-19 cases in his country may be related to a strain of the virus, of which 1,000 cases of the variant have been identified.
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