The country is one of the most vaccine-sceptical in the world
The Japanese government is planning to downgrade the status of Covid-19, reclassifying the disease to the level of seasonal flu. Covid is currently at the second most serious threat level, on a par with tuberculosis and SARS, but after reclassification it would be at number 5 of 5. The move would mean the lifting of nearly all remaining restrictions, and would place barriers in the way of their reimposition. We could be close, it seems, after three wearisome years, to returning to something resembling the old normal.
