都、変異ウイルス検査強化　感染下げ止まり、急拡大危惧―新型コロナ

　東京都は１２日、新型コロナウイルスの感染状況などを分析するモニタリング会議を開いた。専門家は「新規感染者数は下げ止まりが見られる」と指摘し、感染力が強いとされる変異ウイルスによって再び感染が急拡大する可能性を危惧。都は変異ウイルスの検査体制を強化する。
　都は現在、感染が確認された人の約１割についてウイルスの変異の有無を調べるスクリーニング検査を実施できる体制を整備。昨年１２月以降、２７００件以上検査した。会議では、民間検査機関の協力も得て、４月までに累計で４０００件検査できる体制に拡充する方針が報告された。（2021/03/12-16:27）

The Tokyo metropolitan government plans to enhance its system to screen cases of infection with mutant strains of the novel coronavirus, it was learned Friday.
   At the day's COVID-19 monitoring meeting of the metropolitan government, experts warned of the possibility of coronavirus variants, which are said to be more contagious than the original virus, causing a rapid spread of infections in the Japanese capital again. One of them said that "the number of new cases (in Tokyo) seems to have stopped decreasing."
   Currently, the metropolitan government's system is capable of screening about 10 pct of all coronavirus positive cases to see whether there are variant cases. Since December last year, over 2,700 cases have been examined under the system.
   A plan to enhance the system to raise the cumulative number of such examinations to 4,000 by April in cooperation with private-sector institutions was reported at the meeting.
   The seven-day average of newly confirmed infection cases in Tokyo has stayed at between around 250 and 280 since the beginning of March, with the figure standing at 273.6 as of Friday. A total of 24 cases of infection with coronavirus variants have been reported.