Open AccessHow Iwate Prefecture in Japan maintained a low COVID-19 infection rate
Author(s) -
Shizuko Takahashi,
Ichiro Kawachi
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
western pacific surveillance response journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.515
H-Index - 16
eISSN - 2094-7313
pISSN - 2094-7321
DOI - 10.5365/wpsar.2021.12.4.859
Subject(s) - case fatality rate , covid-19 , population , medicine , infection rate , mortality rate , demography , virology , environmental health , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , outbreak , surgery , sociology
The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Japan was confirmed on 16 January 2020. The first wave of cases peaked on 10 April 2020 (n = 710) and the second on 7 August 2020 (n = 1595). Iwate Prefecture in north-eastern Japan was the last prefecture to confirm a case of COVID-19, on 29 July 2020, 110 days after all other prefectures had confirmed cases. No cases were reported during the first wave.1 As of 21 September 2021, there had been 3469 cases (282.8/100 000 population) and 52 deaths (1.50% fatality rate) in Iwate and 1.7 million cases (1333.2/100 000 population) and 17 294 deaths (1.03% fatality rate) in Japan overall. This article discusses possible reasons for the low number of COVID-19 cases in Iwate.