06 July 2021 (Tuesday) – Coronavirus Digest from Japanese Morning TV News Part 1 (of maybe 1): Headlines and (yesterday’s) numbers

See photo captions for stories

Photo 01
Japan covid-related topics from NHK’s 7am news bulletin today.
– Re-draw of the Tokyo ticket lottery postponed till July 10
Landslide news dominated of course.
Naomi Osaka has indicated a desire to compete at the Olympics.

Photo 02
[Taken from the NHK website]
1030 cases confirmed yesterday
[up vs. 1002 for the same day last week. FYI: 868 for the same day two weeks ago.]
[Tuesday a.m. figures (i.e. Monday’s figures) are traditionally the lowest of the week while Thursday a.m. figures (for Wednesday) are generally the highest.]

[Jul 29 1030 Battle at Stiklestad (Trondheim) “one of the most famous battles in the history of Norway.”]

36 out of 47 prefectures reported cases yesterday.
No new daily prefectural records appear to have been set.

Tokyo was 342
[up vs. 317 for the same day last week.]

Osaka at 78
[vs. 40 for the same day last week]

Joining Tokyo and Osaka in triple figures were Tokyo’s neighbors:
Kanagawa 180
Chiba 112
[Tokyo+3 account for 710, over two thirds of today’s total]

The number of positives at immigration testing was 9.

Photo 03
[Taken from the NHK website]
19 deaths confirmed yesterday, for a total of 14880.

The total of current active serious cases stands at 491, down 5 on the previous day.

Total recorded cases at 808431.

Recovered cases at 775701 (up around 1600 on the previous day).
[nuzzles calculator]
Total active cases are at 17850 (down around 550 on the previous day) and falling below 18000.
Percentage of active cases as a percentage of the grand total is 2.2%

Photo 04
Kansai figures on the regional bulletin.
100 for the region.
Second straight day of no cases for Wakayama.
First time for no cases in Shiga since Nov 13 last year.
1 death confirmed [verbally].

Photo 05
Tokyo’s 342 is their 16th straight day of being higher than the corresponding day of the previous week.

Photo 06
Sources within the government are increasingly of the opinion that an extension of Manbo in Tokyo+3 [due to expire on July 11] will be unavoidable.
A decision on this and where to go from here is expected to be made on Thursday.

Photo 07
17 days to the opening of the Olympics.

Photo 08
Yesterday, Narita airport starting workplace vaccinations for the approximately 16000 people who work within the airport.

SY: This was a case of damned if they did, damned if they didn’t. If they had been vaccinating staff ahead of vaccinating old people, then the media would have said they were prioritizing the Olympics over people’s lives…but since they were going to be doing that anyway, it would have made sense to move sooner.

Photo 09
Second jabs are expected to start from August 02, AFTER the Olympics is underway.

Photo 10
A continuation of Manbo measures in Tokyo is expected to bring about a review of the current policy regarding Olympic spectators:
Current policy: Cap on spectators of half capacity of venue up to a maximum of 10,000 people in principle.
[Changes under discussion: No spectators at nighttime events (after 9pm, I heard), or in the big stadiums.]
[A decision on this is also expected as early as Thursday.]

Photo 11
[With capacity going to be limited to 10,000 people in big stadiums, there was a new lottery done to see which ticket holders would still be able to attend (including the opening ceremony and some events, such as athletics).
Results of that redraw were to be announced today. However, in the light of possible further adjustments to the capacity, the announcement has been postponed until July 10.

Photo 12
Refunds for those who would like to get one will be available from July 10 to July 20 11:59pm.

[A few things from me:
(a) Presumably people who don’t get chosen in the lottery will get automatic refunds. I certainly hope they don’t have to jump through hoops, make phone calls, try to reach websites collapsing under the weight of people trying to access them.
(b) If (a) is true, that means that refunds for those that want them will be offered to people who get picked in the redraw and don’t want to go, meaning people who still wanted to go will miss out and the seat will be empty?
(c) I know people who have tickets for events. They have taken paid holidays, they have booked trains and planes, they have booked hotels. To still not know whether or not they can go with only two weeks or so left is massively inconvenient. People unable to attend the opening ceremony on the 23rd will be left with no plans for the four-day holiday weekend. I can imagine a decent proportion of those people deciding they will just go to Tokyo anyway, for a break, to do some shopping and to “soak up the *atmosphere*”
Here’s your Countdown conundrum. Let’s start the clock: C C F U R S K E L U T

EH: I am someone with a ticket I do not want any more–I will not be vaccinated and there is no way I am trekking from Setagaya to Saitama. But there has also been no way for me to cancel as of yet–I would think it would be better to allow all of us who want to cancel to cancel before doing a lottery.