Japan's Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has instructed ministers to consider steps toward recategorizing COVID-19 into the same class of infectious diseases as seasonal flu this spring.
Japan's emergency officials say the weekly number of cases in which ambulance crews struggled to find hospitals to accept patients has renewed a record high for the fourth straight week.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Matsuno Hirokazu has instructed ministers to take thorough measures to prevent the spread of bird flu and ensure stable supplies of chicken and eggs.
The Japanese government will consider recategorizing COVID-19 as an infectious disease on par with the seasonal flu. Doing so would allow authorities to ease the pandemic's impact on socioeconomic activities.
Japan's health ministry plans to deliver a Moderna vaccine targeting the BA.5 Omicron subvariant of the coronavirus, following the delivery of a similar vaccine made by Pfizer.
Since the interval between vaccinations for the new coronavirus has been shortened to at least three months, the fifth vaccination, which is the largest number, will be possible from 21 October 2022, and additional vaccinations are desired at large-scale vaccination venues in Tokyo.
In response to the rapid spread of the new coronavirus infection, Yonago City in Tottori Prefecture will call on parents who use childcare facilities to refrain from attending school children as much as possible from the 28th.