COVID-19 patient had to wait 35 hours and 47 minutes for hospital admission

Many patients requiring emergency care were taken to this hospital in Tokyo. This picture was taken in January. Asahi Shimbun file photo A COVID 19 patient had to wait about 35 hours and 47 minutes before a hospital could take him due to a shortage of hospital beds, according to the Tokyo Fire Department.

An official for the fire department said on Aug. 10 the latest case broke the previous record of 23 hours and 35 minutes last summer, when Japan was in its fifth wave of infections.

The patient in question was a man in his 70 s who had tested positive for COVID 19 while hospitalized for foot injuries this summer, according to the department.

A fire department official said that the man needed to be transferred to another medical institution that could treat both the disease and injuries, but there was no hospital immediately available to admit him due to a surge in infections.

In early July, the number of COVID 19 patients admitted to a hospital began to surge when the country is believed to have entered its seventh wave of infections.

Of these patients, 88 had to wait five hours or longer before being taken to a hospital, while it took at least three hours for 100 cases.

The waiting time was at least an hour, but there was no more than three hours for 494 patients and less than an hour for 98 cases.