5 Years After Confirmation of First Coronavirus Infection, Japan Must Take Steps to Prepare for Next Pandemic

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:20 JST, January 13, 2025

Wednesday will mark five years since the first novel coronavirus infection was confirmed in Japan. COVID-19 was recategorized in May 2023 as a Category V disease under the Infectious Diseases Law, putting it on par with seasonal flu, but it remains a disease that can be life-threatening for elderly people and those with underlying health conditions.

People have become less vigilant against COVID-19, but the nation needs to be prepared for new infectious diseases.

The novel coronavirus was previously classified as “equivalent to Category II,” and hospitalization recommendations were issued to patients as part of the government’s strict measures. Medical institutions also were obliged to report all cases of infection to public health centers and other entities.

With the downgrading of the classification of COVID-19, public funding for treatments, including reserving hospital beds for COVID patients, was ended. The nation’s response to the novel coronavirus shifted to reflect the normalizing circumstances, in which coronavirus patients are treated at a wide range of medical institutions.

However, new infections have continued to surge even after the disease was downgraded to Category V.

In October last year, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry began offering routine vaccinations against the coronavirus to people aged 65 and older and to people aged 60 to 64 with serious underlying conditions. The ministry asked prefectures the following month to take steps to strengthen their medical systems to prepare for winter.

The ministry is calling for measures against infection, such as washing hands, wearing masks and ventilating rooms, as elderly people are at high risk of becoming seriously ill.

The annual death toll from COVID-19 is significantly higher than that from influenza, which kills around 1,000 to 3,000 people a year, according to the ministry’s statistics. A total of 26,302 people died from the coronavirus from January through August 2024, with 97% of them being aged 65 or older.

New variants of the coronavirus continue to emerge.

“The virus continues mutating in a way to make it easier to escape the immunity gained from infections and vaccinations, so caution must be maintained in the future,” said Kei Sato, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Institute of Medical Science, whose research focuses on viruses.

Preparing for the next pandemic

In October last year, a team of experts in infectious diseases, public health, medical economics and other fields from around the world stated in an international medical journal that the next pandemic may be something significantly different from the coronavirus.

“There are fears that the spread of an influenza virus with high pathogenicity will cause serious illness or death among young people and children. The government must constantly monitor the global trends in infectious diseases and respond accordingly,” said team member Hitoshi Oshitani, a professor at Tohoku University who specializes in infectious diseases.

Shigeru Omi, president of the Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association, said the nation was hit by the COVID-19 pandemic amid the inadequate digitalization of medical care and testing systems, even though relevant recommendations had been issued in 2009 after a pandemic involving a new type of influenza.

“This time, we must utilize the lessons learned and prepare for a new pandemic.” said Omi, who chaired the government’s subcommittee on COVID-19 measures.