Photo/Illutration Morning commuters at JR Shinagawa Station in Tokyo on May 8, when the severity level of COVID-19 was downgraded to the equivalent of seasonal flu (Jin Nishioka)

Japan on May 8 downgraded the severity category of COVID-19 to the same level as seasonal influenza, meaning that individuals and businesses can decide on their own whether to take anti-infection measures.

The central government’s basic policy on dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic is now abolished.

It will no longer provide instructions or requests to COVID-19 patients to be admitted to hospitals. Infected patients and those in close contact with them will not be asked to stay at home.

However, those infected are still advised to remain at home for six days from when they first show symptoms.

The government aims to increase the number of health care organizations that can see COVID-19 patients from the current 44,000 to 64,000. It also plans to increase the number of hospitals that admit COVID-19 patients from 3,000 to 8,200.

Medical fees and testing fees for COVID-19 had been covered by the government, but from now there will be out-of-pocket costs. Hospitalization charges are expensive, so the government will subsidize part of those fees until September.

Treatment drugs will be free until September.

The government also will no longer count and release daily tallies of new COVID-19 patients. Instead, about 5,000 health care organizations nationwide will report such figures once a week.

The first case of COVID-19 in Japan was confirmed in January 2020, and a state of emergency was issued in April that year.

After 2021, Omicron variants of the novel coronavirus became dominant, while the fatality rate decreased.

In January this year, the central government decided to downgrade the severity of COVID-19.

A health ministry panel in April agreed with the government’s decision, saying there has been no confirmation of a new mutant strain.

According to the ministry’s data, the average daily number of new COVID-19 patients over a one-week period was about 180,000 in mid-January, during the eighth wave of infections in Japan.

The figure dropped to between 6,000 and 7,000 in March, started increasing again in April and exceeded 10,000 at the end of that month.

The ministry’s panel said the virus will likely spread toward summer to a certain degree.

In Japan, about 33.8 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and about 74,000 have died.

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