The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan resulted in 33,803,572 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 74,694 deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries.
The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture who had returned from Wuhan, China. The first known death from COVID-19 was recorded in Japan on 14 February 2020. Both were followed by a second outbreak introduced by travellers and returnees from Europe and the United States between 11 March 2020 and 23 March 2020. According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the majority of viruses spreading in the country derive from the European type, while those of the Wuhan type began disappearing in March 2020.
According to the official press release of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, at the end of 2020, the cumulative number of cases was 230,304 and the number of deaths was 3,414.
The COVID-19 vaccination in Japan began on 17 February 2021, more than a month after the first anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic in the country was commemorated. As of 22 October 2021, about 96.4 million people in Japan received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while about 86.9 million were fully vaccinated.
The Japanese government adopted various measures to limit or prevent the outbreak. Some observers describe this approach as constituting a unique "Japan Model" of COVID-19 response. On 30 January 2020, former prime minister Shinzo Abe established the Japan Anti-Coronavirus National Task Force to oversee the government's response to the pandemic. On 27 February 2020, he requested the temporary closure of all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools until early April 2020. On 7 April 2020, Abe proclaimed a one-month state of emergency for Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka. On 16 April 2020, the declaration was extended to the rest of the country for an indefinite period. The state of emergency was lifted in an increasing number of prefectures during May 2020, extending to the whole country by 25 May 2020.
On 7 January 2021, Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and the prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa, effective from 8 January until 7 February. Japan's death rate per capita from coronavirus is one of the lowest in the developed world, despite its aging population. Factors speculated to explain this include the government response, a milder strain of the virus, cultural habits such as bowing etiquette and wearing face masks, hand-washing with sanitising equipment, a protective genetic trait, and a relative immunity conferred by the mandatory BCG tuberculosis vaccine. In December 2021, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported the number of excess deaths through July. The excess death toll was 12000 in COVID-19 and 11000 from natural causes due to the aging of the population, but the death toll from pneumonia fell by 5000 as a result of infection control measures taken by people.
The pandemic was a concern for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were postponed to 2021 after negotiations between the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics were held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 with restrictions in place to avoid the spread of the virus.
At the end of 2021, the cumulative number of cases was 1,733,725 and the number of deaths was 18,393.
At the end of 2022, the cumulative number of cases was 29,212,535 and the number of deaths was 57,262.
On 8 May 2023, the Japanese government changed the classification of COVID-19 from category 2 to category 5 under the Infectious Disease Control Law. Under Category 2, the government was able to take strict measures against COVID-19, such as urging the public to stay indoors and recommending hospitalisation for those infected, but under Category 5, infection control measures are now left to the discretion of the individual. According to records as of the end of 7 May 2023, the last day of the official press release issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on daily statistics of the number of cases and deaths, the cumulative number of cases was 33,802,739 and the number of deaths was 74,669. Following the reclassification, Japan continued to monitor COVID-19 through sentinel medical institutions rather than the previous system of daily reporting of all confirmed cases.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan resulted in 33,803,572 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 74,694 deaths, along with 33,728,878 recoveries.
The Japanese government confirmed the country's first case of the disease on 16 January 2020 in a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture who had returned from Wuhan, China. The first known death from COVID-19 was recorded in Japan on 14 February 2020. Both were followed by a second outbreak introduced by travellers and returnees from Europe and the United States between 11 March 2020 and 23 March 2020. According to the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, the majority of viruses spreading in the country derive from the European type, while those of the Wuhan type began disappearing in March 2020.
According to the official press release of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, at the end of 2020, the cumulative number of cases was 230,304 and the number of deaths was 3,414.
The COVID-19 vaccination in Japan began on 17 February 2021, more than a month after the first anniversary of the beginning of the pandemic in the country was commemorated. As of 22 October 2021, about 96.4 million people in Japan received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while about 86.9 million were fully vaccinated.
The Japanese government adopted various measures to limit or prevent the outbreak. Some observers describe this approach as constituting a unique "Japan Model" of COVID-19 response. On 30 January 2020, former prime minister Shinzo Abe established the Japan Anti-Coronavirus National Task Force to oversee the government's response to the pandemic. On 27 February 2020, he requested the temporary closure of all Japanese elementary, junior high, and high schools until early April 2020. On 7 April 2020, Abe proclaimed a one-month state of emergency for Tokyo and the prefectures of Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, Hyogo, and Fukuoka. On 16 April 2020, the declaration was extended to the rest of the country for an indefinite period. The state of emergency was lifted in an increasing number of prefectures during May 2020, extending to the whole country by 25 May 2020.
On 7 January 2021, Suga declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and the prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa, effective from 8 January until 7 February. Japan's death rate per capita from coronavirus is one of the lowest in the developed world, despite its aging population. Factors speculated to explain this include the government response, a milder strain of the virus, cultural habits such as bowing etiquette and wearing face masks, hand-washing with sanitising equipment, a protective genetic trait, and a relative immunity conferred by the mandatory BCG tuberculosis vaccine. In December 2021, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare reported the number of excess deaths through July. The excess death toll was 12000 in COVID-19 and 11000 from natural causes due to the aging of the population, but the death toll from pneumonia fell by 5000 as a result of infection control measures taken by people.
The pandemic was a concern for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were postponed to 2021 after negotiations between the Japanese government and the International Olympic Committee. The Olympics were held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 with restrictions in place to avoid the spread of the virus.
At the end of 2021, the cumulative number of cases was 1,733,725 and the number of deaths was 18,393.
At the end of 2022, the cumulative number of cases was 29,212,535 and the number of deaths was 57,262.
On 8 May 2023, the Japanese government changed the classification of COVID-19 from category 2 to category 5 under the Infectious Disease Control Law. Under Category 2, the government was able to take strict measures against COVID-19, such as urging the public to stay indoors and recommending hospitalisation for those infected, but under Category 5, infection control measures are now left to the discretion of the individual. According to records as of the end of 7 May 2023, the last day of the official press release issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on daily statistics of the number of cases and deaths, the cumulative number of cases was 33,802,739 and the number of deaths was 74,669. Following the reclassification, Japan continued to monitor COVID-19 through sentinel medical institutions rather than the previous system of daily reporting of all confirmed cases.
Timeline
Japan is one of the countries with at least a million COVID-19 cases. At the beginning of the 2020 Summer Olympics, there were nearly 860,000 cases in the country.
The COVID-19 pandemic in Japan can be divided into five waves based on the genome sequence of the country's COVID-19 virus. The National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) of Japan has determined from its genetic research that the COVID-19 variant of the first wave is derived from the Wuhan type that is prevalent in patients from China and other countries in East Asia. After entering Japan in January 2020 through travellers and returnees from China, the virus caused numerous infection clusters across the country before beginning to subside in March. Japanese medical surveillance confirmed its first case of the virus on 16 January 2020 in a resident of Kanagawa Prefecture who had returned from Wuhan. On 14 February 2020, the country confirmed the first COVID-19 death.
The first wave was followed by a second one that originated from a COVID-19 variant of the European type that is traced back to early patients from France, Italy, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. Japanese medical surveillance detected the second wave on 26 March 2020 when the government's expert panel concluded the likelihood of a new outbreak caused by travellers and returnees from Europe and the United States between 11 March 2020 and 23 March 2020. The NIID has established that the majority of viruses spreading in Japan since March is the European type. This has led it to conclude that the data "strongly suggests" that the Japanese government has succeeded in containing the Wuhan variant and that it is the European variant that is spreading across the country.
According to the official press release of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, at the end of 2020, the cumulative number of cases was 230,304 and the number of deaths was 3,414.
At the end of 2021, the cumulative number of cases was 1,733,725 and the number of deaths was 18,393.
At the end of 2022, the cumulative number of cases was 29,212,535 and the number of deaths was 57,262.
On 8 May 2023, the Japanese government changed the classification of COVID-19 from category 2 to category 5 under the Infectious Disease Control Law. Under Category 2, the government was able to take strict measures against COVID-19, such as urging the public to stay indoors and recommending hospitalisation for those infected, but under Category 5, infection control measures are now left to the discretion of the individual. According to records as of the end of 7 May 2023, the last day of the official press release issued by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare based on daily statistics of the number of cases and deaths, the cumulative number of cases was 33,802,739 and the number of deaths was 74,669.
Statistics
Case fatality rate
The trend of case fatality rate for COVID-19 from 16 January, the day first case in the country was recorded.
Government response
Phase 1: Containment
The initial response of the Japanese government to the COVID-19 outbreak was a policy of containment that focused on the repatriation of Japanese citizens from Wuhan, the point of origin of the pandemic, and the introduction of new border control regulations.
On 24 January 2020, Abe convened the Ministerial Meeting on Countermeasures Related to the Novel Coronavirus at the Prime Minister's Office with members of his Cabinet in response to a statement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) confirming human-to-human transmission of the coronavirus. Abe announced that he would introduce appropriate countermeasures to the disease in coordination with the NIID.
On 27 January 2020, Abe designated the new coronavirus as an "infectious disease" under the Infectious Diseases Control Law, which allows the government to order patients with COVID-19 to undergo hospitalisation. He also designated the disease as a "quarantinable infectious disease" under the Quarantine Act, which allows the government to quarantine people suspected of infection and order them to undergo diagnosis and treatment.
On 30 January 2020, Abe announced the establishment of the "Novel Coronavirus Response Headquarters" (新型コロナウイルス感染症対策本部), which meets at the Prime Minister's Official Residence and is run by a task force led by Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary for Crisis Management. The initial roster of the task force includes 36 high-ranking bureaucrats from several of the Ministries of Japan. The headquarters acts as the site of Abe's decision-making process on the country's virus countermeasures.
On 31 January 2020, Abe announced that the government was prioritising the repatriation of Japanese citizens from Hubei Province. Officials negotiated with Chinese authorities to dispatch five chartered flights to Wuhan from 29 January 2020 to 17 February 2020.
On 1 February 2020, the Japanese government enacted restrictions to deny entry to foreign citizens who had visited Hubei Province within 14 days and to those with a Chinese passport issued from there. On 12 February 2020, it expanded those restrictions to anyone who had a recent travel history to and from Zhejiang Province or had a Chinese passport issued from there.
On 5 February 2020, Abe invoked the Quarantine Act to place the cruise ship Diamond Princess under quarantine in Yokohama. Quarantine officers were dispatched to the ship to prevent the disembarkation of crew and passengers, and to escort infected patients to medical facilities.
On 6 February 2020, Abe invoked the Immigration Control and Refugee Act to deny entry to the cruise ship MS Westerdam from Hong Kong after one of its passengers tested positive for COVID-19.
Reinforcement of medical service system
After the COVID-19 outbreak on the cruise ship Diamond Princess, the Japanese government shifted its focus from a policy of containment to one of prevention and treatment because it anticipated increasing community spread within Japan. This policy prioritised the creation of a COVID-19 testing and consultation system based on the NIID and the government's 83 existing municipal and prefectural public health institutions that are separate from the civilian hospital system. The new system handles the transfer of COVID-19 patients to mainstream medical facilities to facilitate patient flow, triage, and the management of limited testing kits on their behalf to prevent a rush of infected and uninfected patients from overwhelming healthcare providers and transmitting diseases to them. By regulating COVID-19 testing at the national level, the Abe Administration integrated the activities of the national government, local governments, medical professionals, business operators, and the public in treating the disease.
On 1 February 2020, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare instructed municipal and prefectural governments to establish specialised COVID-19 consultation centers and outpatient wards at their local public health facilities within the first half of the month. Such wards would provide medical examinations and testing for suspected carriers of the disease to protect general hospitals from infection.
On 5 February 2020, Abe announced that the government would begin preparations to strengthen COVID-19 testing capabilities at the NIID and 83 municipal and prefectural public health institutions that are designated by the government as official testing sites. Without a uniform diagnosis kit for the disease, the government has relied on polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to check for infections. As few mainstream medical facilities in Japan can conduct PCR tests, Abe also promised to increase the number of institutions with such kits, including universities and private companies.
On 12 February 2020, Abe announced that the government would expand the scope of COVID-19 testing to include patients with symptoms based on the discretion of local governments. Previously, testing was restricted to those with a history of travelling to Hubei Province. On the same day, the Ministry of Health and NIID contracted SRL Inc to handle PCR clinical laboratory testing. Since then, the government has partnered with additional private companies to expand laboratory testing capabilities and to work towards the development of a rapid testing kit.
On 14 February 2020, Abe introduced the government's coronavirus consultation system to coordinate medical testing and responses with the public. The Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare worked with local governments to establish 536 consultation centers that covered every prefecture within the country to provide citizens with instructions on how to receive COVID-19 testing and treatment. The general public needs to contact a consultation center by phone to get tested at one of the government's specialised outpatient wards (帰国者・接触者外来).
On 16 February 2020, Abe convened the government's first Novel Coronavirus Expert Meeting (新型コロナウイルス感染症対策専門家会議) at the Prime Minister's Office to draft national guidelines for COVID-19 testing and treatment. The meeting was chaired by Wakita Takaji, Director of the NIID, who brought together ten public health experts and medical professionals from across Japan to coordinate a response to the virus with Abe and the government's coronavirus task force in a roundtable format. The main concern of the Japanese medical establishment was overcrowding of hospitals by uninfected patients with light cold symptoms who believed that they had COVID-19. Medical representatives claimed that such a panic would strain medical resources and risk exposing those uninfected patients to the disease.
On 17 February 2020, the Ministry of Health, Labour, and Welfare released national guidelines for COVID-19 testing to each of the municipal and prefectural governments and their public health centers. It instructed doctors and public health nurses who staff the consultation centers to limit consultations to people with the following conditions: (1) cold symptoms and a fever of at least 37.5 °C (or need to take antipyretic medication) for over four days; and (2) extreme fatigue and breathing difficulties. The elderly, people with pre-existing conditions, and pregnant women with cold symptoms can receive consultation if they have had them for two days.
On 22 February 2020, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato announced that the Japanese government was looking into the use of favipiravir, an anti-influenza medication developed by Fujifilm, to treat patients with COVID-19.