Expert Panel Head Urges Mutant Strain Preparedness
The head of the Japanese government's expert panel on the coronavirus has called for preparedness against mutant strains becoming the dominant cause of infections in the country and also called for stepping up monitoring of the variants.
Omi Shigeru spoke at a meeting of the Lower House Health, Labor and Welfare Committee on Wednesday.
He said it is better to think the variants will become the main cause of infections sooner or later, saying that the process of variants taking over the original strain has definitely started.
Omi said there is no direct evidence at present that variants in Japan have become more transmissible as reported in Europe.
But he said it is an urgent matter to make "all-Japan" efforts to boost the monitoring of variants, using university and private-sector institutions for testing, assuming that variants will become more transmissible.
From Sunday, the government extended the state of emergency for Tokyo and three neighboring prefectures for another two weeks through March 21.
Omi said the state of emergency should not be lifted or extended without an objective and socially acceptable explanation.
He also said that, while the infection status is important, a decision will be made by placing greater importance on medical care burdens.