Tokyo: Both novel coronavirus and influenza cases remain high in Japan, prompting experts to urge people to continue taking basic countermeasures such as the use of face masks, hand-washing and ventilation.

COVID-19 was downgraded to a lower-risk category that also includes flu under the infectious disease control law in May 2023, and the health ministry currently estimates the infection situation for both COVID-19 and flu based on new cases reported regularly from about 5,000 medical institutions across the country.

According to the data, new COVID-19 cases reported in the week to Feb. 11 stood at 13.75 per institution. By prefecture, Ishikawa in central Japan had the largest number, at 21.91, followed by Aichi, also central Japan, at 20.06.

Although new cases across Japan dropped on average for the first time in about three months, the country is in a situation that can be called “the 10th wave” of infections, experts warned.

The highly contagious new variant JN.1, which is believed to evade the human immune system more easily than past strains, is increasingly found from infected people.

According to reports from some 500 regularly monitored medical institutions across the nation in the same seven-day period, 3,257 people were newly hospitalized due to COVID-19, almost on par with levels during the ninth wave last year. People aged 70 or over, who are at higher risk of developing serious symptoms, accounted for more than 70 percent of the total.

Per-institution new flu cases came to 23.93 in the week to Feb. 11, up for the fifth straight week, although the number was down about 30 percent from the peak level in early December 2023.

Fukuoka Prefecture, southwestern Japan, had the largest number, at 56.48, followed by neighboring Saga Prefecture, at 38.15. The per-institution number topped the alert level of 10 in 44 of the country’s 47 prefectures.

Atsuo Hamada, professor for travel medicine at Tokyo Medical University, said that new COVID-19 cases are close to peaking out. But he warned that infections may spread again later.

The flu outbreak may continue until it gets warmer in March, Hamada said.

Hamada called on people to continue taking measures to prevent infection, such as wearing face masks when going to crowded places, washing hands and carrying out ventilation.

He also stressed the importance of measures to prevent infections from spreading, including staying at home when feeling unwell.

JIJI Press