101 Global News Post 1

https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/20/asia/japan-covid-consider-downgrade-seasonal-flu-intl-hnk/index.html

Sometime in these next few months, Japan is planning on reducing COVID- 19 as a class 2 sickness to a class 5 sickness- the weakest class of sicknesses there is. Other class 2 illnesses include tuberculosis and avian influenza, so this means COVID would be brought down to the same level as a seasonal flu or cold. As well as this, the Prime Minister, Fumio Kashida, and his team also announced that they would take into account other pandemic measures like the mask mandate and others. Despite all of this, Japan still has around 100,000 new illness cases a day, so they will still proceed with caution, but the plan is to normalize living with the corona virus. This article gathers evidence and discussions released by the CDC. The CDC announced that death and/or hospitalization from COVID has decreased significantly because more people have been getting vaccinated, so with this being said, it’s likely this news was taken into account by Japan, as well as other countries when making such decisions regarding COVID. This news is somewhat surprising considering that up until October, Japan has had one of the strictest border controls in the world, not letting travelers from over seas into the country. This article also shares news of South Korea planning on lessening their corona restrictions by lifting its indoor mask mandate in most places. Both Japan and South Korea seem to have positive outlooks on the COVID situation by trying to make it so people can actually live in a world where they’re not constantly remembered of the ongoing pandemic.

Jozuka, E., Ogura, J., Bae, G., & Magramo, K. (2023, January 20). Japan considers downgrading Covid-19 to same level as seasonal flu. CNN. https://edition.cnn.com/2023/01/20/asia/japan-covid-consider-downgrade-seasonal-flu-intl-hnk/index.html