Japan’s Health Ministry uses LINE app to survey public on COVID-19

Japan’s health ministry is using the LINE messaging application to survey the public nationwide on symptoms of the COVID-19 virus and measures they are taking to avoid it.

In the first of a series of surveys via the online communication app, about 160,000 LINE users responded between March 27 and 30 to a questionnaire sent to people living in the greater Tokyo area. The survey showed that 7.1% of Tokyo residents had at least one of the symptoms often connected with COVID-19, such as a temperature of 37.5 degrees Celsius or higher, a sore throat, lethargy, a bad cough, difficulty breathing, diarrhea, or the loss of the sense of taste or smell.

The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare plans to use the results to ascertain the state of infections of the new coronavirus and to consider effective measures to prevent its spread.

Amid limited testing in Japan for the virus, it is unclear how widely it has spread. A recent jump in cases, particularly in Tokyo, has spawned speculation that a lockdown could be declared soon.

Tokyo has far more confirmed cases than any other region, with 587 as of April 1, compared with 3,207 cases nationwide. That day, the number of confirmed cases nationwide jumped by well over 200 for the second day straight. Tokyo had 66 new confirmations that day.

Symptoms highest in 30s

Other results of the initial survey, which were released on March 31, showed that among the surrounding prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama and Chiba, Chiba Prefecture had the lowest rate of symptoms, at 5.7%.

In each prefecture, the age group that self-reported the highest rate of symptoms was those aged 30-39, followed by those in their 20s.

The hay fever season continues in the Tokyo region and can cause some of the symptoms asked about in the survey.

Taking prevention measures

The survey also found that close to 90% of respondents are taking measures to prevent infection, such as washing their hands and covering coughs. However, compared with other age groups, people in their teens or twenties were less likely to follow the three guidelines regarding density, which are to avoid badly ventilated places, crowded places and close-range conversation.

Overall, 66.5% of respondents are avoiding crowded places, but only 57.1% of 15-19 year olds and 51.3% of those aged 20-29 are doing so. That compares with just under 64%, or higher, for older groups.

While more than 50% of older groups are avoiding poorly ventilated places, only 41.3% of 15-19 year olds, and 39.8% of those in their 20s are doing the same. Just 18.4% of each of these younger groups are avoiding close-proximity conversation, compared with 29.9% of people overall.

More to come

The survey will continue, with the next round set for tomorrow, April 5.

LINE sends the questionnaires via its chat function to users aged 15 or over. LINE Corp. says it had 83 million active users nationwide as of December 2019.