Experts expressed skepticism about the Japanese government's response to Covid-19, saying the actual number of nCoV infections could be much higher.

The Japanese government has so far reported 364 nCoV infections nationwide, of which 6 have died. However, the data released by the country is causing doubts from international experts, especially about how Japan responded to Covid-19 and the isolation of Diamond Princess ship in Yokohama port last month.

In neighboring South Korea, the number of infections exceeded 6,000 after the government conducted an nCoV test for tens of thousands of people, along with a large-scale medical surveillance campaign with more than 300,000 members. New Heavenly sect.

The Ministry of Health, meanwhile, announced that until March 3, 8,11 nCoV tests were conducted only on March 4, although the government announced it was capable of doing 3,800 nCoV tests a day.

On March 4, Japan recorded 33 new cases of nCoV, the highest increase in a day since the outbreak. With 696 cases from the Diamond Princess yacht, the country has recorded a total of 1,060 people infected with nCoV, only about one sixth of that in Korea.

But according to Masahiro Kami, executive director of the non-profit organization of the Japan Institute for Health Management Research, the number of nCoV infections in this country may be many times higher than reported and the rate of infection announced by the government is only "the floating part of the iceberg".

Kami said that the number of undiagnosed people is much higher than the number of patients tested. Many Japanese people who do not have symptoms or show only mild symptoms will not go to the hospital for testing.

Guidelines from the Ministry of Health in Japan recommend that people should get tested if they have flu-like symptoms, body temperature above 37.5 degrees C, or feel tired, have difficulty breathing for 4 days or more. During that time, they should isolate themselves at home. Elderly people or people with underlying medical conditions should be more alert and need testing if symptoms appear two or more days.

Advice is given to prevent people from coming to clinics and hospitals, causing the overload, but they do not have much effect in easing public unrest and curb virus spread, expert review.

Hokkaido prefecture, a popular tourist destination in northern Japan, has declared a state of emergency. This is one of the localities heavily affected by Covid-19, accounting for more than a quarter of all non-Diamond Princess ship cases in Japan.

According to a statement from Japanese officials, the number of nCoV-infected patients in Hokkaido is currently approximately 80, but Hiroshi Nishiura, an epidemiologist at Hokkaido University who supports the Japanese government to build a statistical model to predict the spread of the virus, arguing that the actual number could be 10 times higher.

The Japanese Ministry of Health rejected Nishiura's comments, emphasizing that the country's total number of infections to date is just under 3,000.

"We are fully aware that there are still people who have not been detected infected with the virus," the Japanese Ministry of Health said in a statement to CNN, adding that they are also aware of "a lot of people who are considering "and the Department will" expand the scope of the target "to people with" mild symptoms ".

Kenji Shibuya, director of the Institute for Population Health at King's College London, said no matter what the total number of cases, it is likely that the rate of nCoV infection will be higher as the number of people tested increases. To ease public anxiety, the Japanese government needs to make it easier for people to get tested, especially for the elderly, Shibuya noted.

While Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced that he was considering declaring a national emergency to give more authority to local authorities in enforcing a ban on public gatherings and encouraging people to stay home, Shibuya suggests that the government should focus on developing contingency plans if the outbreak is more widespread.

According to him, treating critically ill patients and protecting those at high risk is an extremely important task, because even people without symptoms can transmit the virus.

Kami agrees with this point of view, affirming the most important goal is to prevent the virus from spreading to the elderly in nursing homes, hospitals and private homes. "If the elderly are infected with the virus, the condition easily becomes serious. The mortality rate of the elderly group with nCoV is over 10%," he said.

Covid-19 originated in China and has now appeared in 90 countries and territories, causing nearly 3,400 deaths and more than 98,000 cases worldwide. The epidemic is looming over Japan's economy as well as threatening the fate of the 2020 Summer Olympics. Prime Minister Abe stressed that the next few weeks will be a decisive time to contain the epidemic.

Japan has taken a number of precautions to prevent the virus from spreading. A series of events crowded with sports tournaments has been scaled down or canceled. Japanese companies encourage employees to work from home to minimize the possibility of them being infected by the virus in the office or on public transport.

But critics accuse Prime Minister Abe of prioritizing the Olympics and bilateral relations over national security, especially when Japan did not close its borders with China at the beginning of the epidemic.

"Compared to other countries, the Japanese government acts relatively softly in stopping the influx of Chinese from entering the country," said Koichi Nakano, a professor of political science at Sophia University in Tokyo. .

Nakano said the policy angered both supporters and opponents of Prime Minister Abe. Last week, the decision to close most schools across the country also faced strong criticism, because many parents do not know how to manage when their children can not go to school.

Confused psychology increased, many people rushed to stock up on necessities, even toilet paper or napkins, after an online rumor that most of these items came from China, where factories are all going down.

In the face of a shortage of masks and disinfectants in Japan, experts say Shibuya's public panic poses a greater threat than the disease.

"In the end, Covid-19 was a mild cold for most people, the biggest fear was not about the virus but about panic, which unfortunately happened," he said.