No Lockdown, But Tokyo Citizens May Have Developed COVID-19 Herd Immunity, Say Researchers

Sally Robertson, B.Sc. - News-Medical Net : Sep 29, 2020
Amazing Health Advances

"COVID-19 infection may have spread widely across the general population of Tokyo despite the very low fatality rate," say Hayashida and team. Although Japan took the atypical step of not implementing a mandatory lockdown, the second wave peaked and subsided nevertheless, they add.

[Amazing Health Advances] Researchers in Japan and the United States have conducted a study showing that herd immunity to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may have developed among the citizens of Tokyo during the summer. (Image: Andre Benz-Unsplash)

SARS-CoV-2 is the viral agent responsible for the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that is continuing to sweep the globe, posing significant threats to human health.

Yasutaka Hayashida (Medical Corporation Koshikai, Tokyo) and colleagues from Boston Children's Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School, Boston, say their study suggests that seroprevalence for SARS-CoV-2 rose to almost 50% at around the same time cases of COVID-19 waned in the city.

"With the rise in SPR [seropositivity rate] nearing 50% within our cohort, matching the time when COVID-19 cases waned, the possibility of herd immunity should be considered, particularly in the highly-dense urban scenario like Tokyo," writes the team.

A pre-print version of the paper is available in the server medRxiv*, while the article undergoes peer review.

Death Rate in Japan Fell, Despite No Lockdown

Compared with the United States and European countries, COVID-19-related mortality has been low in Japan, and the death rate has fallen despite the absence of a lockdown.

The reasons for the low fatality rate are not yet known. They may be related to a low SARS-CoV-2 prevalence across the general population or decreased rates of fatality among infected cases.

Distinguishing the underlying factors requires SARS-CoV-2 prevalence data, particularly data that represent the asymptomatic general population... Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

Continue reading here.