We would like to inform you that the Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, MEXT have released the attached notification dated April 28, 2023.
We are sharing this notification with you with the hope that it will be utilized as a reference for your consideration of your responses to COVID-19.

Contact:
The Office for a Professional Platform of Health and Hygiene Environment in
Schools for Foreign Students provided by MEXT （mediPhone, Inc)
Tel: 050-3187-8114 (Multilingual consultation service),
E-mail: hsfs@mediphone.jp

Infection Control Measures against COVID-19 following its reclassification as a Class V　Infectious Disease (Notification)

Akio Fujiwara
Director-general of Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau, MEXT

COVID-19 will be downgraded to Class V Infectious Diseases on May 8, 2023 under the Act on the Prevention of Infectious Diseases and Medical Care for Patients with Infectious Diseases (Act No. 114 of 1998).

In the light of reclassifying COVID-19 as Class V Infectious Diseases, we have revised the "COVID-19 Infection Control Manuals and Guidelines for Schools" so the Board of Education and schools can refer to it when reviewing infection control measures against the infectious disease for the future.

The main revisions and the matters to be noted are shown in the following. We would like you to review infection control measures against COVID-19 at your school and take positive actions so that your students can lead safe and fulfilling days at the school.

The main revisions and the matters to be noted

1. Policies for infection control measures against COVID-19 in schools

〇  Even after reclassifying novel coronavirus infection to Class V infectious disease, these actions are still important:

・ Monitoring health status of students in cooperation with their families;
・ Ensuring appropriate ventilation; and
・ Teaching hand hygiene, such as hand-washing, and cough etiquette.

However, in usual days when the situation of the infectious disease has calmed down, it is not necessary to take any other specific measures to prevent the infectious disease.
As we have informed you in the past, basically, mask-wearing is not required in school educational activities, and "silent lunches" are not necessary at school.

〇  If an outbreak of infection occurs in the community or school, consider taking the following temporary measures depending on the situation of activities: 

・ Refrain from speaking or talking "close by," "face to face," or "loudly."
・ Keep appropriate physical distancing between students so they do not contact directly each other.

2．Measures to be taken flexibly according to the transmission of COVID-19

〇 When a school finds a student to be infected, the school should take measures to suspend attendance of such student based on the School Health Act (Act No. 56 of 1958). At that time, the school should give necessary consideration to ensure that the student does not suffer significant delays in learning due to his/her inability to attend classes adequately.

  With regards to a student whose a parent/guardian requests to get his/her child to be absent from school because of concerns about infection, the school principal may continue to treat his/her day-off as "a day when the principal allow him/her to be absent from school due to reasons not-attributed to the student nor his/her parent/guardian, such as in emergency disasters" at the principal's discretion.

〇 For further details regarding handling of suspended attendance, etc., please refer to the "Enforcement of the Ministerial Ordinance Partially Amending the Enforcement Regulations of the School Health Act (Notification)" (Notification dated April 28, 2023 issued by the Director-general of Elementary and Secondary Education Bureau of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). 

〇 For temporary school closures, schools should clarify and announce the significance of infection control measures and the scope and conditions of the closure in advance. Schools should implement school closures flexibly within the necessary extent and period while maintain learning of children and students.

End of document

<Reference materials>
◇ COVID-19 Infection Control Manuals and Guidelines for Schools (only in Japanese)(published on May 8, 2023 )
◇ Guidelines for Countermeasures in the Case Where COVID-19 Infection of Students, Teachers, or Staff is Confirmed at the Schools
(only in Japanese) (Revised in May, 2023)

Both documents are available on the following reference & manual website:
https://hsfs.mext.go.jp/manual-list/