Govt. To Improve Coronavirus Data - Sharing System
Japan's health ministry plans to improve its online data-sharing system on people infected with the coronavirus in order to encourage more usage by local governments.
Public health authorities launched the system in late May. It allows the central government, local governments and medical institutions across the country to share data. Information entered into the system includes the names of people who underwent PCR tests and their results.
But the ministry says that of the 155 local governments that run public health centers, about 30 in Tokyo and Osaka had not begun using the system as of Wednesday.
It says some of these local governments need more time to switch to the system, while others are expressing concerns about how personal information of infected people will be handled.
The ministry's working group, which includes epidemiologists and public health center chiefs, has begun discussing how to improve the system to speed up its adoption.
The ministry plans to solicit opinions from local governments that are tasked with inputting data into the system.
It is also working to upgrade the system in the hope that local governments can use data more effectively to prevent cluster infections.
