Ai Simulates Tourism Infection Risk
NHK has learned that a risk simulation using artificial intelligence found that contact tracing is the key to controlling the spread of coronavirus brought by tourists.
Japan's government-sponsored "Go To Travel" campaign, aimed at boosting domestic tourism with offers of subsidies and discounts, begins on Wednesday. Tours to and from Tokyo are excluded from the campaign.
A group led by University of Tsukuba Professor Kurahashi Setsuya ran the simulation based on an imaginary community modeled on an actual sightseeing spot and including one person infected with the coronavirus.
The group calculated how many people would be hospitalized in serious condition in either of two scenarios -- one in which the community shuts out tourists, and the other in which it accepts tourists including one infected person every week.
When the community took in tourists, the number of patients in serious condition rose 1.67 times, even with preventive measures such as mask wearing and transparent shields at hotels and sightseeing facilities.
But the increase was kept at 1.27 times if 80 percent of the infected and those who had close contact with them could be traced and tested.
The group found that more contact tracing would lessen the number of seriously ill patients.
Kurahashi stressed the importance of using contact confirmation apps and other means to help lower the risk of infection.
