BANGKOK – Japan could see some 850,000 people seriously sickened by the coronavirus and almost half of them dying if no social distancing or other measures are followed, according to an expert estimate released Wednesday.
Japan has the world’s oldest population, which is a particular concern since COVID-19 can be especially serious and fatal in the elderly.
And there are concerns that Japan’s government has done too little and acted too late to stave off high numbers of seriously ill patients.
The current state of emergency is voluntary and doesn’t compensate workers who’ve lost earnings. Japanese companies also have been slow to adapt to remote work, meaning people still have continued to use public transit to commute to large offices in