123rd Meeting of the COVID-19 Advisory Board of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (July 7, 2023)Material 1

Evaluation of the Latest Infection Status of COVID-19 Infections

Infection status and situation of the medical care provision system

• The number of new patients has tended to gradually increase since the beginning of April, and has continued to increase for seven consecutive weeks, even after the downgrade to Class 5.
  (7.24 per fixed point from 6/26 to 7/2 nationwide, 1.18 compared to the previous week)
• The number of new patients by region tended to increase from the previous week in 46 prefectures, and the spread of infection can be seen particularly in Okinawa.
  (48.39 per fixed point from 6/26 to 7/2 in Okinawa, 1.23 compared to the previous week)
• The number of new patients by age group is increasing nationwide in all age groups from the previous week.
• Regarding trends in the occurrence of variants, XBB lineages account for most of them, and in particular, the XBB.1.16 lineage tends to increase, the XBB.1.5 lineage tends to decrease, and the XBB.1.9 lineage remains flat.
• The numbers of newly hospitalized patients and severe cases are both on an increasing trend (It should be noted that recent data are underestimated).
• Regarding the situation of the medical care provision system, although it is not strained nationwide, the burden on the healthcare systems is increasing in Okinawa because of an increase in the number of inpatients and the occurrence of in-hospital clusters.
• In emergency medical care, the number of cases of difficult emergency transportation remains almost flat for both suspected COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 cases.
• Regarding the nighttime population, no significant increase was seen nationwide since the downgrade to Class 5.

Future outlook

• Based on the past situation, it is possible that the number of new patients will continue to increase, and that infection will spread to a certain extent during the summer. The spread of infection may also increase the burden on the medical care provision system.
• It is necessary to pay attention to the impact of the attenuation of immunity that is due to natural infection and vaccination, the increase in the proportion of strains with potential immune escape, and the impact of future increases in contact opportunities on the infection situation.

Future efforts

• Pursuit of a multi-layered understanding of infection trends as well as close cooperation, particularly with Okinawa, where the infection is spreading, will continue.
• For people at high risk of severe illness, such as elderly people and those with underlying diseases, vaccination will continue, and a shift in the medical system will be promoted so that a wide range of medical institutions can handle COVID-19 patients to provide the necessary medical care, even if the infection spreads, in cooperation with local governments and medical personnel.
• We will continue to publicize basic infection control measures such as the washing of hands, ventilation, and wearing of masks in situations where these are effective, more actively.