Seemingly alarmed by the unprecedented speed with which the omicron variant is spreading across the country, the government has been forced to make another revision to its COVID-19 policies, including shortening the isolation period for close contacts and the timetable for administering booster shots.
Amid reports that the highly contagious variant is now estimated to account for more than 80% of new cases, health minister Shigeyuki Goto announced later Friday that people who have been designated as a COVID-19 close contact only need to isolate for 10 days, down from the current 14 days. For essential workers, the period will be even shorter — just six days — if they test negative on the sixth day. Municipalities can decide who is considered an essential worker, he said.
The move comes amid concerns that if more people get infected, thereby increasing the number of close contacts, there will come a point where most business and social activities will be shut down because of the need for either treatment or isolation.
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