Hospitals overwhelmed as Covid cases surge in Osaka

Beds almost at capacity and an estimated 17,000 people with symptoms waiting for treatment

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A surge in coronavirus cases in Japan is forcing exhausted medical workers to make heartbreaking" decisions about treatment as healthcare services are close to being overwhelmed, medics have said.

In Osaka, at the centre of the country's fourth wave of infections, hospital beds are almost at capacity and an estimated 17,000 people with virus symptoms are waiting for treatment at home. In recent weeks more than a dozen have died before they could be admitted to hospital.