Журнал. World association for medical law. The COVID-19 pandemic. Volume 39 2

241 World Association for Medical Law Medicine and Law JAPANESE GOVERNMENT POLICY ON COVID-19 Mitsuyasu Kurosu* Abstract: On January 16 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in Japan was a man with Chinese Nationality who travelled to Wuhan. Since then, infected cases have continued to increase and the prime minister issued an emergency declaration on April 7. The features of the Japanese government’s measures, against COVID-19 are 1) outing restriction by request, not by order, 2) limiting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing and 3) responding to passengers on a cruise ship at an early stage. The reasons for the delay, in the development of the medical system for COVID-19, are as follows: since medical personnel are busy with normal patient care every day, there were few hospitals that could accommodate COVID-19 patients; financial support for hospital infection control including for medical staff was insufficient; and recent medical cost reduction policies have reduced the numbers of hospital beds and doctors and delayed ICU maintenance. In-hospital infections of COVID-19 have occurred in some medical facilities, including university hospitals. A cause of some of them was the lack of disinfectants and masks. It has become necessary to stockpile such medical materials and to switch their production from overseas to domestic. Predicting the 2 nd and 3 rd waves of COVID-19, will be required, to respond for a long time on an annual basis. Guaranteeing the basic human rights of individuals, such as freedom and control in those rights for public welfare policy, continue to be a challenge. Enhancing laws and regulations is important. Improving the ethical consciousness of each individual citizen’s consideration for the society and others will lead to an appropriate judgement. * Adjunct Professor of Tokyo Medical University, Japan: e-mail: krs-uou@tokyo-med.ac.jp Med Law (2020) 39:2:241-246

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