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  6.  » Japan becomes first major country to officially recognize Covid poses same threat as flu — in seminal pandemic moment

Commuters at Tokyo Station, Japan, January 20, 2023

  •  Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made the announcement on Friday
  • Category would downgrade the disease from Class 2 to Class 5
  • New approach would treat COVID-19 as a normal part of medical services rather than a medical emergency

Britney Grimes – Daily Mail Jan 20, 2023

Japan will start considering Covid as being equivalent to the seasonal flu — a sign of the attitude shift toward the pandemic.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Friday that Covid would be reclassified to disease category five from the current level two.

In practical terms, it ditches a recommendation to wear masks in indoor public spaces and ends the need for infected people and close contacts to self-isolate

But symbolically, it shows how major countries are finally learning to live with Covid rather than treating it like an immediate public health emergency.

The new classification in Japan – which will kick in in Spring – recommends patients only to wear masks indoors if symptomatic – as opposed to the general recommendation for everyone currently in place.

Mask requirements for coronavirus were last revised in May, when the Government stopped urging people to mask-up outdoors.

Unlike in the UK and US, masks are more culturally accepted in Asia so many Japanese continue to wear coverings both indoors and outdoors.

As we try to restore the lifestyles of a normal Japan, we would like to shift various measures step by step,’ Kishida said.

‘In order to return to our ordinary daily life in Japan while pursuing measures to adapt to living with the coronavirus, we will study concrete measures to gradually move on to a next step,’ he added.

The current Class 2 disease categorization puts Covid in the same criteria as tuberculosis and SARS.

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