TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio met with public health experts on Monday to consider responses to a potential ninth COVID-19 wave in the country.

Kishida asked experts, including Shigeru Omi, who headed a panel that advised the government on pandemic responses, for their analysis and predictions on the COVID-19 infection situation.

Omi told reporters after the meeting at the prime minister’s office that the number of infections was on a slight increase nationwide. “It could be the beginning of the ninth wave.”

One expert told Kishida at the meeting that it was important to take measures for elderly people to prevent the spread of infections and reduce cases of severe symptoms. The elderly should get their sixth doses of COVID-19 vaccine, the expert said.

In May, the government downgraded COVID-19 to a lower-risk infectious disease category that includes influenza.

In the week to June 18, the number of new COVID-19 cases confirmed at hospitals subject to routine reporting averaged 5.6 per hospital, up slightly from 5.1 in the preceding week. In Okinawa Prefecture, the number was as high as 28.7.

Kishida himself received his sixth vaccine shot on Saturday to emphasize the importance of getting it apparently out of concern that any resurgence in infections could be a blow to his administration.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a news conference Monday that the coronavirus might spread to a considerable extent toward the summer, adding that the government will take necessary measures preemptively.

JIJI Press