Apr 24 (NHK) - An NHK survey has found that nearly 10 percent of people infected with the coronavirus in Japan are believed to have contracted the pathogen inside hospitals and other medical institutions.
As of Tuesday, the total of confirmed and suspected cases of hospital infections stood at 1,086, across 60 medical institutions nationwide.
513 cases involve doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers, while 534 are ordinary patients.
Tokyo has the largest number of hospital infections with 454 cases. Osaka comes second with 155, followed by the prefectures of Hokkaido, Fukuoka, Hyogo and Saitama.
The surge of in-house infections has led many hospitals to suspend outpatient treatment and cut back on other services.
Experts warn that a further increase could trigger a collapse of Japan's healthcare system.