This is worrying. Indications that a second wave hits very quickly after lockdown measures are eased. Suggests we may have to keep the economy closed until either an effective treatment or vaccine becomes available. The alternative could be to accept (in the UK) 500,000 more deaths.
Hokkaido re-declares state of emergency after second wave
It looks like Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido is starting to experience exactly what many epidemiologists had predicted; after the successful suppression of an initial outbreak, the relaxing of restrictions has led to a second wave.
Hokkaido was the first place in Japan to be hit badly by the virus. In mid-February the governor declared a state of emergency, schools were closed and people were urged to stay at home. The shutdown hit in the middle of the ski-season, the worst possible time. I was there myself at the beginning of March and the ski resorts were completely deserted. But it worked, and by the middle of March the infection rate had fallen to a handful of infections a day.
At the end of March schools re-opened and life in Hokkaido began to return to some sort of normality. But now just two weeks later a new state of emergency has been declared. By the end of last week new infections had climbed to between 15 and 20 a day which is higher than during the first wave in February. Schools have again been closed and people asked to stay at home.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-52275989
Originally Posted by: Brian Gaze