By HAYATO MURAI/ Staff Writer
April 21, 2022 at 13:09 JST
Toshio Nakagawa, president of the Japan Medical Association (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The chief of the Japan Medical Association is warning that his country should not follow in the footsteps of Western nations that are moving to relax or drop their mask mandates.
“I believe that the day people can stop wearing masks will never come in Japan so long as the country keeps seeing novel coronavirus cases,” Toshio Nakagawa, head of the JMA, said at a news conference on April 20.
He said the public’s heightened awareness of public hygiene, including wearing masks, has contributed to curbing the spread of the virus in Japan.
Mask requirements, he said, “can be ended when the infection trajectory and epidemiological surveys show that the coronavirus pandemic has been completely stamped out.”
His remarks come as the United States and some European countries with high vaccination rates among their populations are steering toward a society living with the coronavirus by loosening mask requirements.
Japan’s latest wave of infections that started at the beginning of this year has yet to show signs of bottoming out. Overall cases are declining in Japan, including in urban centers, but many rural prefectures are beginning to see a spike in new cases driven by the highly contagious “stealth” Omicron BA.2 subvariant.
Turning to the low booster rates among youth, Nakagawa said the JMA has issued guidance for prefectural medical associations and other organizations to urge doctors to recommend booster doses when young patients who have yet to receive them visit their facilities.
Nakagawa also warned that people should refrain from gathering in large numbers and partying when they travel and eat together during the Golden Week holidays that begin later this month.
“How the public behaves will impact the extent that the virus spreads in the following weeks,” he said.
Nakagawa also called on people to avoid crowded places and ensure there is good ventilation at home and other places as measures to contain the spread of the virus.
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