Recently, a letter sent by the Osaka Municipal Government of Japan to COVID-19 patients caused controversy, and the back of the envelope was actually printed with an advertisement of the funeral company.
The “maidona” news network in Kansai, Japan, reported on the 25th that when the Osaka Municipal Government sent documents to citizens with COVID-19, it actually used an envelope with advertisements for funeral companies, which caused great controversy on the Internet.
In response, the Osaka Municipal Government apologized, saying, “We are underconsidered”; the relevant funeral company also said, “We are very sorry for bringing sadness to the people who received the letter.”
An infected man in his 30s said that when he received the letter, he felt “very helpless and humiliating.
Feel like I’ve been given up and I cry every time I think of this.”
“I hope everyone understands that inadvertent measures can also put mental pressure on infected people,” the man said.
The man developed fever in mid-January and tested positive for nucleic acid.
After consulting at the local health center, he chose to isolate himself at home.
After that, he received the proposal and the relevant guidance documents for self-isolation at home, and the municipal government used the above envelope.
To make matters worse, the consultation phone number on the funeral company’s advertisement contains three numbers: “567” (Japanese pronunciation: go, roku, nano), which is speculated that this is the new number set by the funeral company for people infected with the novel coronavirus (corona).
According to a report by J-cast News Network on the 25th, the head of the company responded, “This is a coincidence.
This number has been used for more than 15 years and has no special meaning.”
At the same time, the company said, “We are very sorry for the sadness that brought to the people who received the letter.”
At the same time, there are voices on social media criticizing the Osaka Municipal Government for being “too careless”.
The person in charge of the Osaka Accounting Office responded that in order to protect revenue, advertisements have been advertised on envelopes since 2006.
Advertisements for the funeral company called “Public Welfare Society” have been published since June 2020.
The person in charge said, “It is true that we are not well thought about and will reconsider in the future.”
The person in charge of the local health center who used the envelope said, “Because I only had this envelope on hand, I didn’t realize that there was an advertisement, so I used it directly.” But after hearing everyone’s feedback, “old envelopes will be used in the future.”
It is worth mentioning that Osaka Prefecture has the highest number of deaths from coronavirus patients in Japan, even surpassing Tokyo, the largest number of infected people.
Therefore, when referring to the issue of “COVID-19 death”, Osaka citizens may be sensitive to people in other regions.
According to the Asahi Shimbun website on the 14th, the cumulative number of deaths in Osaka Prefecture reached 714 that day, surpassing the 707 in Tokyo.
On that day, the number of severe cases hospitalized in Osaka Prefecture reached 175, and the use rate of intensive care beds reached 80.6%.
The use rate of beds for mild and moderate patients also reached 71.4%, and the medical rescue system was under increasing pressure.
The Osaka Prefecture government has judged that the main reason for the high number of deaths may be related to the high proportion of elderly in confirmed cases, and is stepping up measures to strengthen epidemic prevention and screening in elderly facilities.
According to the data of Johns Hopkins University, on December 24, 2,020 new cases were confirmed in Japan, with a total of more than 366,000 confirmed cases nationwide and a total of 5,119 deaths.
