COVID-19 medical care in Osaka stretched to 'natural-disaster levels': hospital chief May 7, 2021 (Mainichi Japan) Yukio Nishiguchi, head of Osaka City Juso Hospital in Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, is seen speaking to the Mainichi Shimbun on May 6, 2021. (Mainichi/Satoshi Hishida) OSAKA -- Since mid-April, Osaka Prefecture's patients with serious COVID-19 symptoms have outnumbered available hospital beds for them, thereby forcing beds for patients with mild or moderate cases to be used to care for individuals in greater danger. Osaka City Juso Hospital in the west Japan city's Yodogawa Ward has 70 beds for moderate COVID-19 cases. Its manager, 64-year-old Yukio Nishiguchi, described the situation on the ground: "We've had cases where the disease has taken a sudden turn, and we've not been able to get people to hospitals with beds for seriously ill patients in time. I want people to understand this is a natural-disaster level situation where they can't always receive necessary treatment."