Oxygen station for COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms launched in Tokyo

Oxygen station, a facility that provides oxygen support to COVID-19 patients with relatively mild symptoms, started operating Monday in Tokyo to mitigate the strain on the capital’s medical system amid the surge of COVID-19 infections, local media reported Monday.

The oxygen station is located in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward at the former site of the National Children’s Castle, a complex that contained play and educational facilities for children. It contains 130 beds, and a medical team of three doctors and 25 nurses will offer 24-hour service for patients.

It is designed to treat patients who have been asked to recover at home but with concerns over breathing difficulties. Stays in the station are likely to be short-term, such as one or two nights.

After receiving oxygen support, patients who get better will be sent back home, and those whose symptoms become severe will be considered for admission to the hospital.

As of Sunday, more than 39,000 patients in Tokyo are recuperating at home or elsewhere since they do not meet the requirement of the hospital admission, emphasizing the urgent need for more medical support in the capital.

The metropolitan government plans to provide another 110 beds in oxygen-station capacity in hospitals that it runs by the end of this month.

At the same time, a site opened to provide AstraZeneca Plc’s COVID-19 vaccine at Shiromi Hall in Osaka city as daily COVID-19 infections of Osaka Prefecture has surpassed 2,000 since Wednesday, with Osaka city accounting for some 40 percent of the cases.

The site has around 60 staff and aims to inoculate 540 people per day.

In adding to the vaccines developed by Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc., Osaka city hopes the AstraZeneca shots will speed up the vaccination process, which is originally expected to be completed within November.

The AstraZeneca vaccine, which was initially withheld from supplying the doses due to reported rare cases of blood clots among young people overseas, was approved by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare in May.

In earlier this month, it was offered to prefectures most in need of additional doses such as Tokyo and Osaka for use alongside the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.