ITOCHU : Announces Food Support for COVID-19 Infected Patients Recuperating at Home

ITOCHU Corporation (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Keita Ishii, President & COO; hereinafter 'ITOCHU') and FastDOCTOR (headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Ryo Kikuchi, Director and Doctor; Takashi Mizuno, Director; hereinafter 'FastDOCTOR'), which provides medical support for patients recuperating at home, announced today that they will begin the donation of food to COVID-19 patients recuperating at home in Tokyo from September 14, 2021.

The number of COVID-19 patients recuperating at home in Tokyo during the fifth wave of the COVID-19 infection has increased rapidly, with at least 16,000 people remaining as of September 6. During their recuperation period, patients are not allowed to go out of their residences for 10 days or more, making it a critical issue to ensure they have access to adequate food to regain their strength. FastDOCTOR has heard from many patients that their food supplies have almost run out. Looking toward the future spread of the infection, there are increasing needs for food support in cooperation with private companies.

ITOCHU and FastDOCTOR will therefore begin donating food to patients recuperating at home in Tokyo's 23 wards. More specifically, when registered doctors of FastDOCTOR make a visit, or deliver prescribed drugs to patients' residence after an online medical examination, the companies will distribute approximately 10 types of foods that consider nourishment, ease of digestion, shelf life, and ease of consuming, such as sports drinks, jelly, tea beverages, rice porridge, miso soup, and biscuit. ITOCHU will support this initiative through the timely food supply in cooperation with its suppliers, food manufacturers, by utilizing its networks in Japan and other countries.

ITOCHU has held discussions about this initiative since its subsidiary, ITOCHU Technology Ventures, Inc. (headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo; Shinzo Nakano, President and CEO), invested in FastDOCTOR. ITOCHU will continue to advance the digital transformation of the medical and health-care fields through the establishment of private networks for medicine and food, the use of IT and data, and collaboration in surrounding services.
Through this food donation to patients, ITOCHU hopes to provide 'a sense of security with food ' and will contribute to ending the COVID-19 pandemic and helping all people return to their normal life as early as possible.

Outline of food support for patients recuperating at home

• Targets: Patients recuperating at home (food to be distributed when a doctor visits their houses or prescribed drugs are delivered after an online medical examination)
• Period: From Tuesday, September 14, 2021
• Region: Tokyo's 23 wards
• Foods to be supplied: Sports drink, jelly, tea beverages, rice porridge, miso soup, sweets, etc.
• Examples of sponsor food manufacturers (to be expanded gradually):

• *We receive products from sponsor manufacturers free of charge or under special conditions.

About FastDOCTOR

FastDOCTOR provides the FastDOCTOR out-of-hours emergency platform that connects patients with medical institutes. Mainly in urban areas (Tokyo, Kanagawa, Chiba, Saitama, Osaka, Hyogo, Kyoto, and Nara) where the elderly population is increasing towards 2040, FastDOCTOR will create environments for receiving medical treatment at home with a sense of security, including 70,000 emergency consultations annually, emergency online medical examinations, emergency home visits by doctors, and follow-ups to support emergency medical treatments of patients who have difficulty going to a hospital. Further, it will promote the functional enhancement of out-of-hours primary care doctors and optimization of the ways of medical consultations by patients in cooperation with local medical institutes.

Outline of FastDOCTOR

Address	3F Garden Cross Shinjukugyoen, Naito-machi 1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0014
Established	August 2016
Representative	Ryo Kikuchi (doctor), Takashi Mizuno
URL	https://www.fastdoctor.co.jp/ (Japanese)