Photo/Illutration A typical morning street scene in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward on Jan. 20 (Takuya Isayama)

The government has announced plans to downgrade the legal status of COVID-19 and phase out a range of steps backed by law.

COVID-19, which is categorized as an infectious disease under the infection disease law, will be reclassified as a Class V contagious disease like seasonal flu as early as this spring.

A special task force set up by the government under a special measures law to deal with the outbreaks will be disbanded. No more declarations of a state of emergency will be issued.

Three years have passed since the pandemic hit. An estimated 30 percent of Japan’s population became infected with the virus, SARS-CoV-2, according to data published in November.

Anybody can catch the virus at anytime, but thankfully the vast majority of the public has been vaccinated. Drugs to treat the illness have also emerged.

There is less need for the authorities to require COVID-19 patients to be hospitalized or stay home until they get well, measures aimed mainly at preventing the spread of the virus.

But the virus clearly is not going away, with new outbreaks likely that will put a serious strain on the health care system. Many seriously ill patients will need to be rushed to hospitals or hospitalized.

It is crucial for the government to provide the public with adequate explanations about what will change, and when, as well as develop plans and take steps to minimize the negative effects of the changes.

During the current outbreak, facilities hit by cluster infections encountered serious problems as doctors and nurses struggled to continue their scheduled visits to homes of patients who have difficulty visiting hospitals.

The government should continue to provide financial support for the costs of tests to prevent the spread of the virus as well as treatment of patients.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 this winter has already surpassed the record figure registered during the seventh wave of cases last summer. Most fatal cases are elderly patients. No deaths should occur due to inaccessibility to proper medical treatment.

But it must also be noted that patients who need nursing care could suffer a decline in their ability to go about their daily activities if they are bound by restrictions to avoid passing the virus to others.

It is also important to analyze fatal cases to identify underlying health problems in the individuals and other factors that are common to many patients who have died from the disease. Such a database will help improve policy responses.

Many medical institutions are grappling with the challenge of preventing and dealing with hospital infections. Only a limited number of hospitals are equipped to treat COVID-19 patients. Downgrading the illness to a Class V status will not necessarily lead to an increase in hospitals ready to handle COVID-19 patients.

If the government stops making efforts to secure hospital beds designated for COVID-19 patients and coordinate the allocation of patients who need hospitalization, the number of individuals who are denied hospital care could even grow.

It is vital to establish a system to ensure that people showing symptoms can get swift access to health care services and be hospitalized, if necessary. The government needs to work with the health care community to map out an effective strategy by spring for achieving this goal.

The grim fact is that medical resources are stretched, as indicated by the fact that calls have been made for proper use of ambulances. If everybody acted on a widely shared awareness of the need to reduce visits to hospitals that are not necessary or urgent, that would help prevent the health care system from being overwhelmed by the burden of treating COVID-19 patients.

The government should seek the help of experts in developing a well-designed approach to sending out important messages to the public for timely and effective risk communication.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Jan. 21

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