Compiling daily virus tally in Tokyo involves ‘3-day time lag’

Every morning, two fax machines at a Tokyo metropolitan government office churn out reports that will be compiled into a highly-awaited number: the capital’s daily tally of new COVID-19 cases. The reports are faxed to the metropolitan government’s task force on combatting infectious diseases from 31 public health centers in Tokyo. The deadline for the faxes is 9 a.m. for the release of the new infection figure later in the day. The public health centers fax an A-4 size sheet for each new patient. If a center...