In line with the COVID-19 downgrade in May 2023, Japan stopped counting all COVID-19 cases nationwide and began receiving COVID-19 case reports from about 5,000 designated medical institutions.
According to the health ministry, the number of COVID-19 cases reported in the week through April 21 declined for the 11th consecutive week.
The draft plans seek to take infection prevention measures flexibly to lessen the impact on social and economic activities while calling on local governments and hospitals to sign accords to conduct pandemic response drills in ordinary times.
The body, billed as the Japanese version of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be called the Japan Institute for Health Security and will integrate the current National Institute of Infectious Diseases and the National Center for Global Health and Medicine.
Japanese labor authorities have recognized depression developed by a woman who handled COVID-19 patients at an elderly care facility in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, as work-related, a lawyer representing the woman said on Friday 18th August 2023.
The woman, in protective clothing, changed diapers for residents, served meals to them and carried the bodies of the deceased residents. While working, she had to see the faces of the deceased residents, who were wrapped in transparent bags to prevent infection, the lawyer said.
The Japanese government adopted at a cabinet meeting on Friday 7th October bills partly aimed at obliging large hospitals in the country to keep providing medical services even if patients surge in times of epidemics.
The average monthly wage in FY2020 for persons with disabilities working at employment support facilities in Tochigi prefecture was 16,405 yen, down 5.3% (912 yen) from the previous year and the first decrease in 11 years, according to a report by the prefectural disability welfare department on 30 November.
While the number of visitors to donation rooms are almost at target levels despite the pandemic, there has been a spate of cancellations of offers to accept donation buses, due to concerns about the infection spread.
With more and more people receiving their COVID-19 vaccine doses in Japan, sales of fever and pain relievers are also expanding sharply. The number of people taking such drugs after experiencing negative reactions from novel coronavirus vaccines is believed to be rising.
Eight new infection cases related to the Tokyo Paralympics were reported Sunday, none of which were athletes, the organizers said.
The torch relay for the Tokyo Paralympics will be taken off public roads for Aug. 20-24 legs in the capital due to the current COVID-19 infection status, the metropolitan government said Tuesday.
Barrier Free Japan