Tag - mhlw

 
 

MHLW

JAPAN
Mar 9, 2020
Japan tightens border controls over COVID-19, but power to quarantine limited
A health ministry official confirms that under current law, the government can only request that people submit to a quarantine voluntarily.
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2020
Abe to hasten legal preparations for declaring state of emergency over COVID-19
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed Monday to expedite the enactment of legislation needed to declare a state of emergency, in order to "minimize the impact on Japanese citizens' livelihood" from the rapid spread of COVID-19.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Mar 2, 2020
Limited virus testing in Japan masks true scale of infection
Japan is becoming a center of concern as the coronavirus spreads globally, with the country's official infection tally suspected to be the tip of the iceberg of a much wider outbreak.
JAPAN
Feb 26, 2020
Hospitals in Japan refusing to test many who suspect they have COVID-19
Some medical institutions in Japan have been rejecting possible COVID-19 patients under the strict but ambiguous testing guidelines currently in place, leaving many patients shunted from hospital to hospital.
JAPAN
Feb 24, 2020
Coronavirus outbreak highlights need for independent CDC-style body in Japan
Experts say the agency taking point on the current health crisis lacks the administrative autonomy and power to take effective action.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 22, 2020
Japan can't run out the clock on coronavirus
Next month the Olympic torch will arrive in Japan for a four-month relay to launch the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo summer games. But rather than anticipating the sight of Olympic torchbearers, much of Japan is fixated on a different relay: hundreds of masked passengers grimly walking off the quarantined...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 20, 2020
A cold, hay fever or COVID-19? Japan's health guidelines raise questions
Experts have raised questions about asking the public to observe their symptoms at home closely before seeking a consultation.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2020
Diamond Princess ordeal ends for passengers who tested negative for COVID-19
The evacuation began Wednesday of a cruise ship quarantined after an outbreak of new coronavirus COVID-19, with several hundred passengers who had tested negative being allowed to leave the ship.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 19, 2020
Expert stirs controversy with video on 'inadequate' virus controls on Diamond Princess
Controversy was stirred among the public and at the Diet Wednesday, after an infectious disease expert posted a now-deleted video online in which he claimed to have seen inadequate anti-virus contamination measures on the Diamond Princess cruise ship.
JAPAN
Feb 18, 2020
Health ministry struggles to provide COVID-19 updates in foreign languages
The health ministry is struggling to keep non-Japanese updated on the rapidly escalating situation in a timely manner, hampered by a dearth of staff proficient in foreign languages.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 17, 2020
Japan issues guidelines to prevent rush on hospitals as COVID-19 cases surge
The health ministry releases guidelines on how people should react if they fear infection with the coronavirus.
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2020
From Tokyo to Wakayama to Okinawa, Japan on edge as COVID-19 spreads
Japan was on high alert Friday due to the rising number of confirmed COVID-19 cases nationwide, including that of two taxi drivers and a doctor, as well as the nation's first death blamed on the virus.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 14, 2020
As quarantine nears end, clearing coronavirus-hit ship is daunting task for Japan
With thousands to be tested before the quarantine ends on Wednesday, the outgunned health ministry is mum about the idea of an extension.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 12, 2020
Japan faces COVID-19 test kit shortage as infections on ship rise
Daily reports of new COVID-19 cases on the Diamond Princess, quarantined near Yokohama with thousands trapped aboard, have raised a question: Why can't Japan test all passengers at once?
JAPAN
Feb 11, 2020
Japan's silence on HPV vaccinations will lead to 11,000 cancer deaths, study says
A decision by the government to stop recommending adolescent girls receive an HPV vaccination will likely result in almost 11,000 deaths from cervical cancer if it is not reversed, according to a study in a prestigious medical journal.
JAPAN / Science & Health
Feb 5, 2020
Ten passengers on quarantined cruise ship test positive for coronavirus
Fear of possible coronavirus infections on a cruise ship carrying about 3,700 people became reality Wednesday as 10 of 31 passengers tested positive for the virus.
JAPAN
Jan 25, 2020
Japan braces for Chinese New Year tourist influx as concerns over coronavirus grow
Authorities bolster health screenings at airports and urge companies to clamp down on business travel as throngs of Chinese tourists land in Japan wearing masks.
JAPAN
Jan 18, 2020
Government sends notices to prefectures seeking talks on merging some public hospitals
As the country faces a need to streamline the medical sector amid soaring medical expenses, the health ministry has sent notices to prefectures requesting discussions on possible mergers of publicly run local hospitals.
JAPAN
Jan 17, 2020
Suicides in Japan fell below 20,000 to record low last year
After a decade of belated effort, reported suicides are hovering below 20,000 for the first time since record-keeping began in 1978, preliminary figures show.u2028
Japan Times
JAPAN / Science & Health
Jan 15, 2020
Low-income people in Japan more likely to smoke, health ministry report reveals
Smoking rates among low-income people exceed those of their higher-income counterparts, the health ministry said in a national health and nutrition survey report Tuesday.

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past