Nursery School Closures in Japan Hit Record for 2nd Week

January 31 2022

From Jiji

TOKYO – The number of nursery schools and certified child care facilities in Japan that were temporarily closed due to the novel coronavirus has hit a record high for the second straight week, health ministry officials said Monday.

As of Thursday, 644 such facilities were completely closed in 37 of all 47 prefectures, nearly doubling from 327 a week before.

Many children and staff at such institutions were infected with the coronavirus amid the spread of the omicron variant.

Some local governments have been failing to report closures of such facilities promptly. “The actual number of facility closures may be even higher,” a ministry official said.

There are concerns that if nursery school and certified child care facilities are closed, working parents may not be able to go to work as they will be unable to leave their children at such facilities.