Japanese prefectural governors urged the central government Tuesday to limit its daily reporting requirement for coronavirus cases to the elderly and other at-risk people in a bid to lessen the administrative burden on hospitals amid a resurgence of infections.
The central government should immediately halt requiring local authorities to report all COVID-19 cases, the association of governors said in an emergency statement on Aug. 23.
The government must consider phasing out requiring doctors to report the number of all COVID-19 patients in their care, experts on infectious diseases said in their proposal to the government on Aug. 2.
Tottori Gov Shinji Hirai commenting after a meeting of the National Governors’ Association, which he heads. The mandatory reporting of coronavirus cases might be scrapped to ease the burden on public health centers, medical institutions, and the public under a review of the pandemic situation planned by the government.