No.137 New coronavirus moves to Category 5

Due to the mayoral election this year, the mayor column for the May 15th issue has been cancelled. Thanks to the support of many citizens, I have been entrusted with the post of mayor for the fourth term. We will continue to work on the small column, so thank you.

In December 2019, the spread of the novel coronavirus was first confirmed in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, and in January 2020, it spread all over the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of emergency on January 30, 2019, and requested countries to contain the virus, detect infected people early, and track contacts.

More than five years have passed since then, and on May 5 this year, Director-General Tedros announced the lifting of the state of emergency.

According to the announcement made by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on May 7, the total number of infected people in Japan reached 33,793,429, and the number of deaths reached 74,654. , the establishment of the examination system, medical care provision, hospitalization, recuperation system, etc., and vaccination have progressed. Furthermore, based on the fact that the virus has been attenuated since around last year and the risk of severe illness has decreased, on May 8, the new coronavirus was changed from the equivalent of type 2 to type 5, and the government's task force and basic measures will be taken in line with this. The policy has also been abolished.

On January 31, 2020, the city established the "New Coronavirus Infectious Disease Crisis Management Headquarters" and held a total of 20 meetings by April 6 of the same year to collect information, discuss countermeasures, and decide on countermeasures. did Since the government declared a state of emergency on April 7th of the same year, we have moved to the "Inagi City Novel Coronavirus Infectious Diseases Control Headquarters" based on the Act on Special Measures against New Influenza, etc., and by March 24th of this year A total of 47 Headquarters meetings were held, and countermeasures were taken each time. Due to the abolition of the government's countermeasures headquarters, the city's infectious disease countermeasures headquarters has also been abolished.

In the future, various restrictions on movement by the government and local governments will be lifted, and medical treatment and infection prevention will basically be left to individual judgment. The main measures after the transition to Category 5 are as follows.

Understanding and responding to infected people

• Completed monitoring of the total number of infected people, and changed to a fixed-point monitoring system that announces the number of patients at approximately 5,000 medical institutions nationwide once a week.
• There will be no more requests from local governments, but the government recommends refraining from going out for 5 days after the onset of symptoms.
• Hospitalization recommendations and instructions are no longer available, and individual decisions are made
• Reduced attendance at school from 7 days to 5 days after onset and 1 day after recovery

Medical care provision and medical expenses

• Vaccines are free until March 2021. After that, it will be considered in the future
• In principle, the inspection is self-pay
• For outpatient treatment, the amount paid at the counter based on insurance treatment is paid by the patient.
• Up to 20,000 yen will be subsidized for hospitalization until the end of September, and high-cost drugs will be free until the end of September. After October, decisions will be made based on fairness with other diseases
• The system for limited medical institutions, such as designated medical institutions for infectious diseases, has ended, and a wide range of medical institutions will gradually shift to a normal system for inpatients and outpatients.

Infection control in daily life

• Masks will be relaxed in advance from March 13, and wearing them is an individual decision.
• It is up to the business operator to measure the temperature and install disinfectant at the entrance of the facility.

In this way, the after-corona will gradually shift to normal mode, but the new corona itself has not disappeared, and the WHO is appealing to continue to be vigilant. shall continue for Please continue to help us with infection prevention measures and vaccination.