Public health centers were stretched to the limit during last summer's fifth wave of the novel coronavirus pandemic, prompting the government in October to ask prefectural governments to make additional arrangements in preparation for future outbreaks.
Steps were put in place so that public health centers would be able to triple the number of personnel from the national average of 23.5 in normal times to 73.3 if infections rapidly increased. The plans were based on an assumption that daily infections would reach a peak of about 31,200, higher than the 25,990 logged at the peak of the fifth wave.
