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Japan to downgrade Covid-19 to same level as seasonal flu

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Japan is considering to downgrade Covid-19 to the same category as seasonal flu in spring, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced Friday.

Japan to downgrade COVID-19 as seasonal flu and review pandemic measures

Kishida told reports he had informed Health Ministry officials to discuss the move, CNN reported.

His administration would also go through the rules on face masks and other pandemic measures.

The government wants to focus on economic recovery. And Japan will move forward with its “life with-COVID” initiatives and “gradually transition its policies to restore Japan to a state of normalcy.”

“In order to further advance the efforts of ‘living with Corona’ and restore Japan to a state of normalcy, we will transition the various policies and measures to date in phases,” Kishida said.

While the number of overall Covid-19 infections in Japan has decreased in recent weeks, the country continues to face around 100,000 new infections every day.

According to Japan’s Health Ministry, Covid-19 is classified as a Class 2 disease, the same as tuberculosis and avian influenza. Officials will now consider downgrading it to Class 5, the lowest rank that includes seasonal flu.

Now after than two years of pandemic regulations, Japan completely reopened its borders to foreign visitors last October, putting a stop to one of the world’s strictest border security.

WHO still classifies the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic

According to the CDC, the probability of death or hospitalization from Covid-19 is greatly reduced for the vast majority of people. This is due to the high levels of vaccination and population immunity from previous infections.

The World Health Organization, on the other hand, continues to classify the coronavirus outbreak as a pandemic. The WHO reiterated in its most recent update advice for people to wear masks after recent exposure or close contact with Covid-19. The recommendation was also for “anyone in a crowded, enclosed, or poorly ventilated space”.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged governments to continue sharing coronavirus sequencing data. He stated that it was critical to identify and monitor the development and spread of new variants.

“It’s understandable that countries cannot maintain the same levels of testing and sequencing they had during the Omicron peak. At the same time, the world cannot close its eyes and hope this virus will go away. It won’t,” he said.

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Brendan Taylor

Brendan Taylor was a TV news producer for 5 and a half years. He is an experienced writer. Brendan covers Breaking News at Insider Paper.







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