Amid a resurgence in coronavirus cases, the Nippon Foundation Disaster Emergency Support Center, an isolation facility for those with mild or no symptoms, has been erected in Tokyo’s Odaiba district.

The facility comprises 250 beds spread between the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center and prefabricated units in the parking lot of the Museum of Maritime Science.

On July 30, just as Tokyo’s government announced a record 367 coronavirus cases in a single day, the Nippon Foundation Disaster Emergency Support Center, located in Higashi-Yashio, Shinagawa, was being unveiled to the media. The facility was constructed by the Nippon Foundation with the aim of averting a shortage in hospital beds, thereby helping to prevent the collapse of the health system. Serving as an isolation facility for asymptomatic cases as well as patients with mild symptoms, the Center comprises 100 beds in the Nippon Foundation Paralympic Support Center and an additional 150 beds housed in 140 modular units in the parking lot of the adjacent Museum of Maritime Science. The Center has been designed to be scalable to up to a maximum of 600 beds, if necessary. The 600 m2 marquee in which doctors and nurses are stationed can also be used for storing supplies. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government will take possession of the Center later this month. Since mid-July, coronavirus cases in Tokyo have exceeded the levels we saw from early April, when the state of emergency was declared, through the beginning of May. The Center thus serves as a bulwark against a second wave of infection.