The timeline of public health responses for COVID-19 in Japan (December 2019-September 2022)

Since the first report of the outbreak of a Viral pneumonia of unknown cause in Wuhan, China at the end of 2019, the global community has been engaged in confronting a pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection for two years and nine months (roughly 1,000 days), up to the present. In Japan, public health responses such as non-pharmaceutical interventions, emergency measures, an expansion of the public health care system, and mass vaccination have been implemented to address various issues that have arisen in repeated waves. This article provides a timeline of the key public health events and measures that have been taken, mainly by the national government in Japan.