An ambulance is seen in this file photo. (Mainichi/Kazuhisa Soneda)

       TOKYO -- The number of cases where COVID-19 patients in Tokyo including those recuperating at home were not given emergency ambulance services after their health worsened reached 1,414 between Aug. 9 and 15 -- roughly 1.5 times the previous week's figure, a source told the Mainichi Shimbun.

       It appears medical institutions are increasingly unable to accept patients due to a serious hospital bed shortage. According to a source, there were 2,259 requests for ambulance transportation involving COVID-19 patients from Aug. 9 to 15 in the Tokyo Fire Department's jurisdiction, but over 60% were not sent to hospital after public health centers decided they should continue to recuperate at home or elsewhere.

       While emergency services were not offered to some callers because no medical institutions that could accept them were found, in some cases symptoms were relatively mild. Emergency transportation rejections for the period were up 50 times from the 27 cases in the week of July 5 to 11.

       Furthermore, the time required between the initial emergency call and a patients' arrival at a medical institution is getting longer, even in cases where patients eventually do receive ambulance services due to difficulties finding hospitals that can accept them.

       Of the 845 ambulance transportation cases between Aug. 9 and 15, 121 took five hours or more, up 69 cases and 2.3 times the previous week's figure. There were 159 cases needing somewhere between over three and under five hours (up 60 from the previous week), while 461 required over one but less than three hours (down 17) and transportation was completed in under one hour for 104 cases (up 24).

       (Japanese original by Takuya Suzuki, Tokyo City News Department)

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