Photo/Illutration Takaji Wakita, director-general of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases who heads the expert panel, speaks after the panel’s meeting on Jan. 25. (Kai Ichino)

Every person should decide how best to handle novel coronavirus preventative measures, a group of experts advising the health ministry said in a report.

“It’s time to review what measures should be continued,” they said.

The government plans to downgrade COVID-19 to a less-severe Category 5, the same as seasonal influenza, this spring or later.

Nobuhiko Okabe, head of Kawasaki city’s health and safety research institute, and 17 other experts, jointly released the report on Jan. 25.

The public is paying close attention to the reclassification of COVID-19 and when to stop wearing masks, the panel of experts said. They said elderly people account for a large proportion of the population in Japan, however.

“COVID-19 preventative measures will change from ones the government asks everyone to follow to ones that individuals and groups can choose and implement,” the experts said.

They added that consideration must be given to people’s choices so that no one is forced to take or stop taking COVID-19 prevention measures.

It is still important to prevent the spread of the virus in hospitals and elderly care facilities as people there are highly susceptible to infection, the experts said.

“The characteristics of each age group should be taken into consideration,” they said.

For example, preventative measures should not hamper children’s growth and development, they added.

Japan is currently in the midst of its eighth wave of COVID-19 cases. 

The average daily number of deaths related to COVID-19 over the week through Jan. 24 was 373, the experts said, down from 401 over the week through Jan. 16.

New infection cases over the week through Jan. 24 was 0.59 times that of the previous week, they added.

(This article was written by Yuki Edamatsu and Kai Ichino.)

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