“Special measures that the government has been taking in response to the novel coronavirus will end on May 7,” Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Katsunobu Kato told a press conference.In Japan, COVID-19 is currently designated as a special category equivalent to or stricter than Class 2, which covers infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, under the law.
But some infectious disease experts are cautious about a rapid return to pre-pandemic norms, stressing the need for the elderly and others vulnerable to the coronavirus to continue wearing face masks in order to protect themselves.“There is still a high risk if people start going out the way they did before the coronavirus pandemic,” said Tetsuya Matsumoto, a professor of infectious diseases at the International University of Health and Welfare.