The number of deaths in sunrise is not as high as in other European countries. Japan has recorded 1,499 cases of Covid-19 so far and 49 deaths.
A Japanese official told the Asia Times that the country is developing its own strategy to combat the Covid-19 epidemic in an orderly manner. With this approach, Japan tries to keep the country calm and continue economic activities. As a result, the health system avoids being overloaded and is able to focus its capacity on curing serious cases.
Cultural element "clean"
The Japanese Ministry of Health has warned people to stay away from three things: "unventilated areas, crowds, and close contact".
Japan is also famous for its "clean addiction". For at least 100 years, Japanese culture includes wearing a mask for health reasons. Japanese people do not tend to touch each other to express emotions like in France or Italy. Social gap is part of the culture of Phu Tang.
Barbara Holthus, deputy director of the Japanese Research Institute (Germany), noted that the way to greet each other in Japan is to bow, not to kiss your cheek or shake hands. “Public kissing only began after World War II. It is less common for family members to hug each other than the West, ”the expert said.
Avoid testing if not necessary
As of March 6, the Covid-19 test in Japan is covered by national insurance. Testing is conducted when needed, avoiding unnecessary testing. Health workers are instructed to prevent hospital overcrowding by instructing mildly ill patients to stay home and avoid contact with others.
Japan has a very good public health system with reasonable prices. Most people can see a physician as soon as they start getting sick, not when their body condition has significantly deteriorated.
Japan also learned from treating pneumonia to treat Covid-19 patients.
Since 2014, seniors over 65 years of age here have been vaccinated for free against certain types of pneumonia. Since 2017, the number of deaths from pneumonia in Japan has decreased significantly. The use of new drugs plus CT technology to detect pneumonia has contributed significantly to this success.
Japan probably owns the most CT scanners in the world, with 101 machines per 100,000 people. These CTs are very good at detecting common "blurred glass lesions" in viral pneumonia, such as Covid-19.
"We need to focus on the treatment of serious cases ... If everyone rushes to get tested, the health facilities will be overburdened. This will disperse resources that should have been focused on critical cases, and thus indirectly create greater health risks, ”a Health Ministry official told the Asia Times.
“If people and patients are concentrated in crowded hospitals and health facilities, they are at high risk of direct or indirect infection. That is to come for testing but when you get out there may be infected with more viruses. Testing when not needed also wastes resources, time and financial resources of the government ... There is no specific medicine for Covid-19. We need to take care of people with weak immune systems first, ”the official added.
