Japan’s healthcare system ‘is on the verge of collapse’: Expert warns country is struggling with coronavirus – and says Olympics will still not be able to go ahead in 2021

A Japanese expert who criticised the country’s response to the coronavirus warned the healthcare system is ‘on the verge of collapse’ and that the Olympics may not be able to go ahead even in 2021.  ‘The system is on the verge of collapse in many places in Japan,’ said Kentaro Iwata, a professor of infectious diseases at Kobe University.  There have been 171 deaths recorded so far in Japan and 10,751 cases, with the country under a month-long state of emergency, initially covering seven regions but now in place nationwide.  But Mr Iwata said his country’s failure to change strategy as the outbreak intensified was down to the fact that ‘we are very poor at even thinking of plan B.’ A Japanese expert who criticised the country’s response to the coronavirus warned the healthcare system is ‘on the verge of collapse’ and that the Olympics may not be able to go ahead even in 2021. Pictured: A medic walks past coronavirus testing tents at a Tokyo hospital  Japan’s strategy of limited testing and intensive contact-tracing had worked well in the initial phase of the local outbreak, when numbers were small.  ‘We needed to prepare for once the situation changes, once the… Read full this story

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