Photo/Illutration Members of the health ministry’s working group of experts on infectious diseases discuss COVID-19 measures in Tokyo on Feb. 9. (Mirei Jinguji)

The health ministry on Feb. 9 decided to stop collecting and releasing daily counts of new COVID-19 cases in Japan on May 8.

Under the new policy, the ministry will only collect such data from designated health care organizations once a week.

The National Institute of Infectious Diseases will release the reported figure each week. The ministry said it is still discussing what details to disclose to the public, including the number of COVID-19 deaths.

Such a data-collection method is called a “fixed-point” observation, and it has been used to gather statistics for seasonal influenza.

The central government has decided to downgrade COVID-19 on the five-tier severity system under the infectious disease prevention law from May 8. That will put COVID-19 in the same category as seasonal flu.

For influenza, the ministry asks 5,000 or so designated health care organizations nationwide to submit weekly reports to local governments. The reports include the number of flu patients and their ages and genders.

The estimated number of influenza patients in Japan is based on the reports.

The ministry will introduce a similar system for COVID-19 on May 8.

Experts of the ministry’s working group on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic discussed the new policy on Feb. 9.

Some members suggested the ministry set up guidelines, including a warning or alert system, that the public can use to determine when to take countermeasures against the novel coronavirus.

Between January and August 2022, the ministry collected data on new COVID-19 patients once a week from designated facilities in six municipalities.

The ministry said this fixed-point observation method showed infection trends that were nearly identical to those provided under the current full-report system.

From May 8, it will receive weekly COVID-19 reports from around 5,000 designated facilities, which are also reporting such information about influenza patients.

But the ministry said it will continue using the current system to count hospitalized COVID-19 patients and those with serious symptoms for a certain period, even after May 8.

The ministry will also continue its genomic analyses, but on a smaller scale, to monitor trends of COVID-19 variants.

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