A dysfunctional healthcare system in Japan, with many hospitals refusing to admit COVID patients despite the availability of beds, is forcing those infected to stay at hotels that have been converted into makeshift health centers.

In other countries, “when you are tested positive for Covid-19, you get medical attention right away,” Research Director Kenji Shibuya told Bloomberg News. “In Japan, public health center workers are making medical decisions until patients are severely ill and taken to hospitals. It’s a political failure that the nation can’t prepare hospital beds for them.”

“Covid Patients in Japan Are Recovering in Robot-Staffed Hotels,” Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-07/japan-s-health-care-dysfunction-forces-hotels-into-covid-duty

Profile of Research Director Kenji Shibuya
https://www.tkfd.or.jp/en/experts/detail.php?id=653