Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide and the president of the Japan Medical Association met Tuesday to discuss measures that can be taken in anticipation of a spike in seriously ill coronavirus patients.

Nakagawa Toshio, the association's head, told Suga that medical care systems are under a lot of pressure because the virus is continuing to spread. He added that the number of seriously ill patients requiring ventilators and special care is expected to grow.

The number of seriously ill coronavirus patients in Japan stood at 90 on Thursday. The figure has tripled in the past three weeks.

By prefecture, Tokyo had the highest number at 22, followed by 16 in Osaka and 10 in Kanagawa.

It's been reported that SUPER BEAVER drummer Fujiwara "31-sai" Hiroaki has fallen ill with the novel coronavirus. 

On April 1st, Fujiwara developed a fever and rested at home after consulting a health center. He received the PCR test on the 3rd, and the results came back positive on the 6th.  While his health showing improvement, he is still recuperating at home. Reportedly, fellow member Uesugi Kenta (B) is also currently in poor health and has been ordered to stay at home from the health center.