As the number of new COVID-19 cases continues to surge in the Tokyo metropolitan area and other urban centers nationwide, a number of companies are now facing a new problem — what to do with employees who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus and are looking to return to the office after recovering and completing their period of quarantine.
According to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor, nearly 240,000 people nationwide are believed to have recovered from the virus as of mid-January. The growing tally of COVID-19 survivors was enough for an article in Nikkei.com to suggest that it’s now common for people to know someone who has tested positive for the virus.
This certainly wasn’t the case last spring, a time in which people who had tested positive for virus and had been released from hospital care following their recovery were confronted by some pretty blatant examples of discrimination.