COVID-19, Flu Cases Remain High in Japan

From Jiji

February 24 2024

TOKYO – Both novel coronavirus and influenza cases remain high in Japan, prompting experts to urge people to continue taking basic countermeasures such as the use of face masks, hand-washing and ventilation. 

COVID-19 was downgraded to a lower-risk category that also includes flu under the infectious disease control law in May 2023, and the health ministry currently estimates the infection situation for both COVID-19 and flu based on new cases reported regularly from about 5,000 medical institutions across the country.

According to the data, new COVID-19 cases reported in the week to Feb. 11 stood at 13.75 per institution. By prefecture, Ishikawa in central Japan had the largest number, at 21.91, followed by Aichi, also central Japan, at 20.06.

Although new cases across Japan dropped on average for the first time in about three months, the country is in a situation that can be called “the 10th wave” of infections, experts warned.

The highly contagious new variant JN.1, which is believed to evade the human immune system more easily than past strains, is increasingly found from infected people.