Jun 16 ,2020. 32 minutes ago – 10:30 KYODO NEWS

TOKYO – Antibody tests for the novel coronavirus suggest a 0.1 percent infection rate in Tokyo, health minister Katsunobu Kato said Tuesday, as the government seeks to better grasp the scale of the pandemic’s spread in Japan.

The health ministry began earlier this month testing for coronavirus antibodies in Tokyo as well as in Osaka and Miyagi prefectures. The positive rates for Osaka and Miyagi were 0.17 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively.

Samples were collected from a total of about 8,000 people in the three regions.

The presence of antibodies indicates a person has been infected with the virus, regardless of whether the person developed symptoms or not.

The health ministry conducted the survey June 1-7, targeting residents aged 20 and above. It aimed to estimate how many people could become infected if a second wave of infections occurs and how many would need vaccination.

The ministry initially sought to collect samples from 10,000 people in total.

CR: KYODO NEWS