Over 70 million people in Japan are estimated to have contracted COVID-19 as of March 2024, according to government data cited by Kyodo news on Tuesday.
Japan on Wednesday will mark the fifth anniversary of its first confirmed coronavirus infection in 2020.
Total virus-related deaths, meanwhile, stood at around 132,000 as of last August. During the same period, 3,600 deaths were related to influenza.
Although the country's COVID-19 death toll remains lower than that of many other developed nations, the pandemic contributed to declining birth rates and increased suicides. Yearly deaths peaked during the Omicron variant surge in 2022.
A new organization modeled after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will be established in April to advise the government on future outbreaks of infectious diseases.
