As more countries ease their mask mandates, the top official overseeing Japan’s COVID-19 response has suggested that the government could recommend a phased relaxation of mask-wearing.

Economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, who is concurrently leading the government’s pandemic response, hinted during an NHK television program Sunday that such a gradual recommendation could eventually be in the cards as COVID-19 cases fall.

"We would like to create a situation where the number of new infections is quite low and the risk of contracting the disease during everyday activities can be disregarded,” Yamagiwa said. “If such conditions are created, masks will no longer be necessary.”

However, Yamagiwa said he was uncertain when such conditions could be achieved and that there are still “many steps” that must be taken before masks are no longer needed in some situations.

Unlike some Western countries — where masks have become a politically charged issue — Japan does not have government mandated rules for masks. Instead it has relied on a long tradition of mask-wearing, especially during hay fever and influenza seasons.

Yamagiwa also said that experts have largely agreed that masks are not needed in open outdoor spaces.

"I think it is true that when you are outside in the open air, you do not need a mask," he said.

The government currently recommends wearing a mask at schools and workplaces and in other settings where many people gather, while also avoiding the “three Cs,” or close-contact settings, closed spaces and crowded places.

Citing the example of outdoor settings, he said, "It’s realistic to gradually (ease the use of masks) based on accumulating scientific evidence and increase the recommended scenarios in which (masks are) no longer necessary.”

Asked on the same program about how Japan should approach its mask recommendations, Shigeru Omi, Japan’s top coronavirus adviser, said that because the current environment remains extremely fluid, it is important to “carefully but quickly” consider what to do.

However, the head of the Japan Medical Association has disagreed, urging Japan not to re-evaluate its mask recommendations.

“I believe that the day people can stop wearing masks will never come in Japan so long as the country continues seeing coronavirus cases,” Toshio Nakagawa told a news conference Wednesday.