Coronavirus: Japan gears up for possible Omicron surge, Delhi chief minister tests positive and Philippines expands curbs in Manila
- Tokyo will consider extending border controls and use oral treatment drugs government to roll out more antiviral pills and at-home treatment to prevent shortage of hospital beds
- Elsewhere, India minister tests positive; Manila expands curbs; Australia cases hit new high.
Japan will ramp up efforts to deal with a possible surge in Omicron coronavirus cases and aim to deliver oral treatment using Pfizer Inc’s drugs nationwide next month, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Tuesday.
Kishida also said the government will decide next week whether to extend border controls, which he described as having successfully prevented infection numbers from spiking.
“We’ll prepare to shift the focus of Japan’s Omicron response to domestic measures to guard against the worst-case scenario of a possible spike in community transmissions,” Kishida told a news conference.
Aside from antiviral pills developed by Merck & Co Inc already delivered nationwide, the government will aim to roll out “at the earliest date possible in February” Pfizer’s oral treatment drugs in Japan, he said.
As more oral drugs become available, Japan will allow more patients to receive treatment at home to avoid a resurgence in infections from triggering a shortage of hospital beds, he said. Japan now has 993 Omicron cases including 295 cases considered as community transmissions.
Japan is betting heavily on oral treatments to keep serious infections and deaths at bay should a feared sixth wave of the pandemic emerge. The government agreed in November to pay Merck and its partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics about US$1.2 billion for 1.6 million courses of their drug molnupiravir.