Pedestrians wearing protective masks, amid the coronavirus outbreak, make their way at Ginza shopping district Tokyo, Japan, January 10, 2021(REUTERS)

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that said the Japanese government will place COVID-19 in the same category of infectious diseases as the seasonal flu.

"Until some special circumstances occur, we have confirmed that from May 8, COVID-19 will be placed to the fifth category of infectious diseases, which also includes seasonal flu," Kishida said to Ameba News.

Consequentially, downgrading the Covid 19 to a class 5 infectious disease will entail the suspension of all sorts of precautionary measures like the seven-day quarantine requirement for those infected with the virus and the five-day isolation requirement for those who were in close contact with those infected with the virus.

Additionally, special facilities will be abandoned and covid patients will start receiving treatment at ordinary hospitals.

Covid-related healthcare compensations will reportedly cease following the downgrade of covid from a pandemic to a class 5 disease.

However, over the past couple of months, Japan has seen an increase in COVID-related fatalities. The controversy over whether the government should abandon the strict COVID-19 regulations has been complicated by the discrepancy between official statistics and the real epidemiological situation in the country.

According to experts, the spike in Covid-related fatalities has not been brought on by a higher risk of complications but rather by the fact that COVID-19-related pneumonia and cardiovascular disorders, strokes, and heart attacks are killing more people than before.