News analysis
Celebrity's plight shows risks of Japan's hospitalisation policy
Covid-19 patients at home could be stranded if their condition takes a turn for the worse
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Medical workers attending to a Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit at St Marianna University School of Medicine, Yokohama City Seibu Hospital, in Yokohama, on Sunday. There has been public unease over the policy announced by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga last week that only the sickest Covid-19 patients should be admitted to hospital while all others recover at home.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
When Japanese celebrity Makoto Nonomura was diagnosed with Covid-19, the 57-year-old was told to recover at home, as doctors assessed that his symptoms were light.
But his condition took a sudden turn for the worse. Mr Nonomura, who voiced the lead character in Studio Ghibli animation Pom Poko (1994) and, more recently, has been a regular on variety shows, is now fighting for his life.
