Japan's economy is recovering from the pandemic, the government said in a monthly report Wednesday, with COVID-19 not included in its domestic assessment for the first time in more than two years.
"The Japanese economy is showing signs of picking up," the Cabinet Office wrote in its basic assessment, dropping the words "as the severe situation due to COVID-19 is easing" that had followed the line in last month's report.
The change in the expression reflects a shift in Japanese society where "social and economic activities have kept going even amid a resurgence of COVID-19," a government official said during a news briefing.