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 confirmed 21,186 new cases of coronavirus in Tokyo on Wednesday. The figure is up 2,374 from a week ago.

Japan's health ministry says at least 776 COVID-19 patients died at home across the country in July and August in the seventh wave of infections.

The Japanese health ministry is calling on people to only buy coronavirus antigen test kits it has approved.

The daily count of new coronavirus cases in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido has hit a new high of 9,545.

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.

Japan's health ministry says 6,686 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Tokyo on Thursday. That's an increase of 2,745 from the same day last week.

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.