South East Asian countries are experiencing their deadliest Covid waves to date despite the milder Omicron variant being dominant and high vaccination rates. This was not part of anyone's plan.
Western countries, which claim to stand for civil liberties, have introduced vaccine passports. By contrast, the Japanese government has explicitly told citizens: "do not discriminate" against the unvaccinated.
A recent viral tweet implies that if the UK had used contact tracing like Korea, we could have achieved the same outcomes. Yet we ploughed £37 billion into Test and Trace, and it still failed to halt the epidemic.
In January of this year, Japan introduced restrictions on businesses for the first time. Reo Takaku and colleagues analysed data on symptoms, and found no evidence that these measures reduced the spread of Covid.
A third man with no known serious health conditions has died after taking a dose of the Moderna Covid vaccine in Japan from a batch since suspended due to the discovery of contaminants.
Another million doses of the Moderna Covid vaccine have been temporarily suspended in Japan following the discovery of contaminants in more batches.
Two men in Japan – both in their 30s – have died after being given a dose of the Moderna Covid vaccine from batches that have since been suspended due to the discovery of contaminants.
Japan has publicly named three quarantine rule breakers and has threatened to do the same to others, after telling young people to “share the sense of crisis” by wearing face masks and avoiding having parties.
Japan has largely relied on voluntary social distancing to suppress the virus, eschewing the more draconian measures elsewhere, and yet its Covid death toll is only 8359.
