Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic In Japan Research Articles

Impact of meteorological parameters and population density on variants of SARS-CoV-2 and outcome of COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

Although vaccines have become available, emergence and rapid transmission of new variants have added new paradigm in the coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Weather, population and host immunity have been detected as the regulatory elements of COVID-19. This study aims to investigate the effects of weather, population and host factors on the outcome of COVID-19 and mutation frequency in Japan. Data were collected during January 2020 to February 2021. About 92% isolates were form GR clades. Variants 501Y.V1 (53%) and 452R.V1 (24%) were most prevalent in Japan. The strongest correlation was detected between fatalities and population density (rs = 0.81) followed by total population (rs = 0.72). Relative humidity had the highest correlation (rs = -0.71) with the case fatality rate. Cluster mutations namely N501Y (45%), E484K (30%), N439K (16%), K417N (6%) and T478I (3%) at spike protein have increased during January to February 2021. Above 90% fatality was detected in patients aged >60 years. The ratio of male to female patients of COVID-19 was 1.35:1. This study will help to understand the seasonality of COVID-19 and impact of weather on the outcome which will add knowledge to reduce the health burden of COVID-19 by the international organisations and policy makers.

Trends in deaths from road injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, January to September 2020

BackgroundIn Japan, the latest estimates of excess all-cause deaths through January to July 2020 showed that the overall (direct and indirect) mortality burden from the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan was relatively low compared to Europe and the United States. However, consistency between the reported number of COVID-19 deaths and excess all-cause deaths was limited across prefectures, suggesting the necessity of distinguishing the direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19 by cause-specific analysis. To examine whether deaths from road injuries decreased during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan, consistent with a possible reduction of road transport activity connected to Japan’s state of emergency declaration, we estimated the exiguous deaths from road injuries in each week from January to September 2020 by 47 prefectures.MethodsTo estimate the expected weekly number of deaths from road injuries, a quasi-Poisson regression was applied to daily traffic fatalities data obtained from Traffic Accident Research and Data Analysis, Japan. We set two thresholds, point estimate and lower bound of the two-sided 95% prediction interval, for exiguous deaths, and report the range of differences between the observed number of deaths and each of these thresholds as exiguous deaths.ResultsSince January 2020, in a few weeks the observed deaths from road injuries fell below the 95% lower bound, such as April 6–12 (exiguous deaths 5–21, percent deficit 2.82–38.14), May 4–10 (8–23, 21.05–43.01), July 20–26 (12–29, 30.77–51.53), and August 3–9 (3–20, 7.32–34.41). However, those less than the 95% lower bound were also observed in weeks in the previous years.ConclusionsThe number of road traffic fatalities during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan has decreased slightly, but not significantly, in several weeks compared with the average year. This suggests that the relatively small changes in excess all-cause mortality observed in Japan during the COVID-19 pandemic could not be explained simply by an offsetting reduction in traffic deaths. Considering a variety of other indirect effects, evaluating an independent, unbiased measure of COVID-19-related mortality burden could provide insight into the design of future broad-based infectious disease counter-measures and offer lessons to other countries.

COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

The disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19), is a global emergency. The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Japan in January 2020, a second outbreak of infection occurred in mid-March and a third peak at the beginning of August. The COVID-19 phenotype was milder in Japan than in other countries, although the restrictive measures applied in the country have not been as strict as in other places. Factors related to a possible reduced susceptibility to the pulmonary manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 may have contributed to better outcomes and lower mortality in Japan.

Findings from the First National Online Survey of Children's Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Japan (CORONA-CODOMO Survey)

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has changed people’s lives dramatically. Few data on the acute effects of the pandemic on children’s daily lives and well-being have been published to date. This study aimed to capture the effects on Japanese children during the peak of the outbreak and the national quarantine.Methods: We conducted a web-based, anonymous survey targeting Japanese children aged 7–17 years and parents/guardians of children aged 0–17 years. Eligible individuals were invited to the survey from April 30 to May 31, 2020. This self-report questionnaire examined daily life and behaviors, psychological symptoms (depression, anxiety, and stress), well-being, quality of life, and positive parenting or abusive behaviors during the quarantine.Findings: In our survey of 2,591 children and 6,116 parents/guardians, many aspects of children’s daily lives and well-being were affected by the pandemic. Nearly half of parents/guardians refrained from seeking medical care for the child’s symptoms. Sixty-two percent of children reported screen time exceeding 2 hours. Twenty percent of children reported abusive behaviors by family members, such as being yelled at, being threatened or insulted, and being slapped. Nine in ten parents/guardians of school-aged children reported their child had at least one acute stress symptom in the past month, such as irritable or aggressive behavior, sleep disorder, and poor concentration. Average mental health subscale scores from KINDL-R questionnaire on quality of life were lower than the national average for all grades.Interpretation: The COVID-19 pandemic had serious acute impacts on children’s daily lives, well-being, family relationships and health care utilisation including some impacts that are potentially long-lasting; thus, proactive interventions and services are needed, as well as longitudinal surveys.Funding Statement: This study was supported by the Health and Labour Sciences Research Grant in Japan and the Japan Science and Technology Agency JRAPID Grant.Declaration of Interests: All the authors declare no competing interests.Ethics Approval Statement: This study was approved by the institutional review board of the National Center for Child Health and Development on April 27, 2020 (approval number 2020- 21).

Prevalence of Health Care Worker Burnout During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic in Japan

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has placed considerable psychological strain on frontline health care workers (HCWs).1 Although the problem of burnout, which overlaps with the symptoms of depression,2 remains urgent, few studies have addressed it comprehensively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of burnout among frontline HCWs during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan based on job categories and other factors.