Dec 30 (NHK) - Experts warn that Tokyo's medical system is under severe strain and is entering a critical stage due to a surge in coronavirus cases in the Japanese capital.
They say Tokyo's medical system may collapse if the situation continues.
The warning came as a panel of experts and Tokyo Metropolitan Government officials met on Wednesday for a weekly assessment of the pandemic.
The panel kept both the infection situation for Tokyo and its medical system at the highest alert level on a scale of one to four.
The experts noted that the daily average of newly confirmed cases over seven days in Tokyo jumped for the third consecutive week.
They stressed the urgent need to take stronger steps to prevent the spread of the virus as it usually takes a few weeks for the measures to produce an effect.
They warned that if new cases continue to grow at the current rate for two weeks, the daily average of new cases will reach 1,136.
They also warned that if the rate of coronavirus hospitalizations stays at the current level, 4,000 beds that the Tokyo government has asked hospitals to secure for patients will be fully occupied within the next two weeks.
