Japan's health ministry has started monitoring acute respiratory infections, including cold symptoms, under the infectious diseases control law to detect unknown illnesses promptly.

The ministry classified ARIs as Category V diseases under the law, the same status as COVID-19 and influenza, asking some 3,000 designated medical institutions across the country to report the number of ARI cases.

The measure, based on lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic, allows the ministry to keep an eye on a wide range of infectious diseases to spot unknown illnesses.

ARIs are infectious diseases with respiratory symptoms, such as COVID-19 and influenza. They tend to spread through droplets or other means.

Designated medical institutions report the weekly number of patients with such acute symptoms as coughing, sore throat and runny nose to local public health centers. Prefectural governments gather the data and send it to the health ministry.

The number of patients with ARIs will be published to help the public protect themselves from infections.

The numbers of patients with COVID-19 and influenza continued to be reported to the ministry individually, independent of reports about ARIs.

The designation of ARIs as Category V infections, approved last fall by a subgroup of the government's Health Sciences Council, does not cause any change to how medical institutions deal with patients with cold symptoms. There are no restrictions on patients going to work or school.

How to accept visitors to meet with inpatients at medical institutions and residents at elderly care homes also remains unchanged.