Coronavirus: Japan’s cases drop as other parts of Asia rebound
- Japan has fewer than one Covid-19 case per million, while countries like South Korea see record infections. A Japanese subvariant may explain why
- Elsewhere, cases are spreading among Sydney’s bars and clubs, while Australia’s Deputy PM Barnaby Joyce tested positive while travelling in the US
New daily infections have slowed to fewer than one per million people, the least among major economies except China, and fatalities have fallen to zero in recent days.
South Korea, with similar vaccination coverage, is seeing record infections. Cases remain elevated in Singapore and are rising again in Australia as authorities there relax stringent controls on movement.
One new hypothesis to explain the divergence is that the type of coronavirus dominant in Japan evolved in a way that short-circuited its ability to replicate.
Ituro Inoue, a professor at Japan’s National Institute of Genetics, said that subvariant of Delta, known as AY.29, now may be conferring some immunity in the population. “I think AY.29 is protecting us from other strains,” Inoue said, cautioning that his research remained a theory. “I’m not 100 per cent confident.”
Paul Griffin, a professor at the University of Queensland, said differences in caseloads between countries resulted from a complex mix of weather, population density, and varying strategies to fight the pandemic.