• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Asia News

News from Asia and around the World

  • Home
  • Covid-19
  • Politics
  • Business
  • Culture
  • Society
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sports
  • Travel

‘Factor X’

December 16, 2021 by koreajoongangdaily.joins.com Leave a Comment

 A crowd attends a musical festival in Aichi Prefecture on Aug. 29. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

A crowd attends a musical festival in Aichi Prefecture on Aug. 29. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

JANG JOO-YOUNG
The author is a national team reporter of the JoongAng Ilbo.

Back in August, Japan struggled with the Covid-19 pandemic. With more than 20,000 confirmed cases daily, there were concerns about whether the Tokyo Olympics could be held. However, the atmosphere has changed completely. According to the official government announcement, the number of positive cases has drastically decreased to 100 a day. When the world is nervous about another surge due to the Omicron variant, Japan is an unusual and strange case.

"Factor X" is being discussed as the reason for the drastic drop in daily cases. They claim that Japan has a special factor distinguished from other countries. The term "Factor X" was coined and first used last year by Shinya Yamanaka, a Kyoto University professor and the winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology. He argued that Japanese people may have a special genetic factor that led to a small number of cases in Japan. While Yamanaka is an international authority in stem cell research, he did not provide any grounds for his claim.

But lately, Japanese researchers and media have started to come up with various theories. On Dec. 10, the Institute of Physics and Chemistry under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the results of a study that the HLA-A24 white blood cell that 60 percent of Japanese people have can prevent severe Covid-19 cases. Some media claimed that the culture of not wearing shoes at home, high BCG vaccination rate and low obesity were part of Japan's Factor X.

Sufficient research may clarify the validity of Factor X, but the prevailing opinion is that it is only a hypothesis. The culture of not wearing shoes at home or high BCG vaccination rate cannot explain a fast spread of infections in Korea. Most Japanese media say there are various discussions on the X, but nothing is clear.

How nice would it be if an innate genetic trait or lifestyle can prevent Covid-19? In Korea's reality, such wishful thinking seems pointless. With 7,000 cases being reported daily, the spread is not slowing down. The only thing we can rely on is not-too-tight yet not-too-slack disease control strictly based on science. Rather than self-praising its "successful" quarantine, the government must avoid making political judgements. That's the way to help create Korea's Factor X.

  • Celiac Disease: Symptoms, Causes, Risk Factors, Diagnosis And Treatment
  • 'This is for you Spraggan':  X Factor's Rylan Clark pays tribute to former contestant Lucy after she leaves competition... as Tulisa vows to make her a star
  • Horrified Stacey Solomon 'can't recognise herself' in old X Factor photo
  • Love Island band confirm split just months after X Factor as Wes and Samira go solo
  • X Factor star Scarlett Lee flaunts her incredible curves in a plunging orange bikini as she shares snaps from her Spanish getaway
  • £1.5m fee fight: Cheryl Cole's court battle over US X Factor axe
  • Cheryl Cole battles Simon Cowell in £3.5m US X Factor court fight
  • Robbie Williams favourite with the bookies to replace Louis Walsh on X Factor - although Cheryl Cole isn't far behind
  • X Factor: '80s week could be sink or shame with contestants performing hits from even The Proclaimers
  • Ed Sheeran sued for $20m by songwriters behind X Factor winner
  • Jaundice In Newborns: Causes, Symptoms, Risk Factors, Diagnosis And Treatment
  • PSL 2020: Sarfaraz Ahmed blames Quetta Gladiators’ poor performance on number of factors
‘Factor X’ have 583 words, post on koreajoongangdaily.joins.com at December 16, 2021. This is cached page on Asia News. If you want remove this page, please contact us.

Filed Under: AsiaNews Covid-19 pandemic, panel x factor uk, worst x factor auditions 2018, irish lads x factor 2017, why ra factor increases, herzog factor x, office 365 2 factor authentication, growth factor 9 reviews side effects, x factor boy band, epidemics impact factor, reaction where surface area is not a factor, saturday x factor auditions, diamonds most important factor, tommy patterson x factor, x factor finalists 2016, ebay 2 factor authentication, workload use factor occupancy factor, runescape 2 factor authentication, factor b y factor q, factor p(x) into linear factors, factor p completely into linear factors with complex coefficients, factor g factor s, icloud 2 factor authentication, manfaat 4life transfer factor tri factor formula, manfaat 4life transfer factor plus tri factor formula, factor 1 and factor 2 psychopaths, factor 2 force factor, factor 3 tissue factor, factor viii concentrate, authentication two factor, factor viii products, transported goods factor ends with a factor of 32, x factor x factor judges, factor 8 normal range, factor f(x) into linear factors

Primary Sidebar

Sponsored Links

Copyright © 2022 Asia News. Power by Wordpress.
Home - About Us - Contact Us - Disclaimers - DMCA - Privacy Policy - Submit your story