By Rocky Swift

TOKYO, Reuters – Fumio Kirishima, the Japanese Prime Minister, presented on Friday a plan to urgently increase hospital beds as well as medical resources. This is in preparation for a possible resurgence COVID-19 infection this winter.

After the fifth and most severe wave of infection that nearly overwhelmed the health system in the summer, deaths and infections have dropped dramatically since vaccinations were increased to more than 70%.

Although emergency measures that covered most of the country have been lifted, experts in health warn that they will see cases rebound just like last winter in Japan. To prepare for that, the government will increase hospital capacity by around 30%, boost in-home healthcare, and gather data to determine which hospitals are most likely to be under stress.

Kishida said that “In parallel to strengthening the health system, we will use IT systems starting December to publicize the number and conditions of each hospital’s beds.”

Kishida earlier this week stated that oral treatments could be procured to prevent hospitalsisation.

Japan will pay about $1.2 billion to Merck & Co Inc for 1.6 million courses of the COVID-19 antiviral pill molnupiravir, according to terms announced on Wednesday.

It’s roughly half of the US supply and is comparable to Japan, which has seen 1.7 million cases of coronavirus since the outbreak.

Vaccine booster shots will be available starting next month. The government may also consider expanding vaccinations to children under five years of age.

Japan is faring better than most countries in the face of the pandemic, with only over 18,000 people dying so far.

However, the government received heavy criticism for the deaths of patients at home as a result of hospital inability to deal with the sudden influx of cases that occurred during summer. The crisis was handled by Yoshihide Sug, former prime minister.

In order to prevent bed shortages, the Health Ministry has developed a system which uses data from past and current infections to determine when medical resources are likely be put under strain.

Yuki Furuse from Kyoto University, who created the predictive tool, said that a sixth wave was a matter of when and not if.

It seems safe to remove some restrictions right now, as the situation is currently calm in Japan. He said, “But, I’m concerned that people may not be able to go back into a voluntary self restraint state’ when necessary.”