Japan’s Princess Kako, a niece of Emperor Naruhito, has tested positive for COVID-19, the Imperial Household Agency said Tuesday. The 30-year-old princess developed a fever of around 38 C on Tuesday morning and was diagnosed after undergoing testing. She will miss scheduled events through Friday.
Princess Aiko, the only child of Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, has tested positive for COVID-19, the Imperial Household Agency said Thursday. The 23-year-old princess developed a fever of over 38 C on Tuesday and took an antigen test the following day that confirmed the infection, according to the agency.
A district court on Thursday partially nullified the Japanese government’s decision not to disclose documents regarding the procurement of”Abenomasks,” cloth masks distributed in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Atsushi Tokuchi, presiding judge at Osaka District Court, also ordered the state to pay 110,000 yen in damages to the plaintiff, Kobe Gakuin University professor Hiroshi Kamiwaki whom had filed a suit demanding the revocation of the government decision, saying that it was illegal not to disclose the documents containing detailed information about the state’s procurement contracts.
For families who want to see hospitalized loved ones, Japan appears to be stuck in time. Hospital websites continue to post “COVID-19” bulletins about visitations such as requiring masks and temperature checks, setting time limits and restricting the number of visitors. Now a group of physicians and social workers is demanding the restrictions be abolished or curbed, calling them a violation of human rights. “It’s unthinkable to me that they’re still this strict,” said a doctor in his 30s from the Tokyo metropolitan area on condition of anonymity, expressing a mixture of surprise and disgust at the continued COVID policies.
The number of Japanese students who studied abroad in the fiscal year through March 2024 rose 1.5-fold from the previous year to 89,179 following the end of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a recent survey by a public organization. But the survey conducted by the Japan Student Services Organization also showed that the total was about 26,000 fewer than the peak in the year from April 2018, the highest since comparable data became available in fiscal 2009.
People laid flowers Monday at Yokohama Port in Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, to pray for those who died after contracting COVID-19 on the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which arrived at the port five years ago. “We will not let the deaths of 14 people go to waste,” said Yasuhito Hirasawa, 69, co-head of a group formed by those who were on the ship at that time.
As influenza and COVID-19 infections spread, facilities for people with disabilities are also struggling to respond. Facilities for people with severe intellectual disabilities have found it difficult to take precautions, and there have been cases of infections spreading among users and staff. At a residential facility for people with disabilities in Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, is home to 40 people, including those with severe intellectual disabilities. The Director of the Saitama facility, Takahashi Minoru said: “We took sufficient precautions, but the infection spread so quickly that we’ve come to realize how contagious it is. Some of our users have epilepsy, and a high fever can lead to severe seizures. we would be grateful for any support.”
As Japan marks five years on Wednesday since its first confirmed case of COVID-19, government data show that over 70 million people in the country are estimated to have contracted the virus as of March last year, while total deaths stood at 130,000 as of last August. While yearly deaths have declined since peaking during the Omicron variant surge in 2022, fatalities remain significantly higher than for influenza, with the virus continuing to spread seasonally in summer and winter.
Barrier Free Japan feels a little bit under the weather, but here is a digest of recent news stories. The Osaka High Court allowed a hearing impaired person to use Speech-to-Text technology, Carers will receive wage hikes and COVID cases are increasing.
The weekly average of new coronavirus cases at designated hospitals across Japan rose for the first time in three months in the seven days through last Sunday, health ministry data showed Friday. The number of newly hospitalized COVID-19 patients reported by about 500 designated medical organizations nationwide was 1,175, up 37 percent from the week before.
Barrier Free Japan