Lessons from COVID-19: Preparedness and Future Challenges for Emerging Infectious Diseases in Japan
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was a major test of Japan's capacity to respond to modern health crises. Despite having one of the world's oldest populations, Japan reported fewer COVID-19 deaths per capita during 2020-2022 than most countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), although substantial mortality continued after the legal reclassification in May 2023. The pandemic also exposed inflexible care delivery arrangements, the vulnerability of long-term care facilities, fragmented surveillance and research infrastructure, indirect health harms, and shortages and geographic maldistribution of infectious disease professionals. This narrative review summarizes Japan's response and organizes priorities for future infectious disease crises around four interdependent pillars: workforce development; interoperable surveillance, data, and research-and-development capacity; regional collaborative networks built during routine periods; and effective national institutions. Preparedness is best maintained as a layered, continuously evaluated system rather than being assembled after an emergency begins.
Related
- Emerging henipaviruses and future pandemic preparedness: diagnostic delays, zoonotic spillover, and One Health challenges
- Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)-Based Genome Editing in Inherited Cardiovascular Diseases: Therapeutic Advances, Emerging Editing Platforms, and Translational Challenges
- Pathways to health resilience: A cross-country analysis of health system response to re-emerging infectious diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa
- The anthropogenic fingerprint on emerging infectious diseases
- Invasive fungal diseases in immunocompetent adults: emerging patterns and clinical challenges
BibTeX
@article{kutsuna2026lessons,
title = {{Lessons from COVID-19: Preparedness and Future Challenges for Emerging Infectious Diseases in Japan}},
author = {Satoshi Kutsuna},
journal = {Internal Medicine},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.2169/internalmedicine.8271-26},
url = {https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/internalmedicine/advpub/0/advpub_8271-26/_article},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Lessons from COVID-19: Preparedness and Future Challenges for Emerging Infectious Diseases in Japan
AU - Satoshi Kutsuna
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/15
JO - Internal Medicine
DO - 10.2169/internalmedicine.8271-26
UR - https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/internalmedicine/advpub/0/advpub_8271-26/_article
AB - Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was a major test of Japan's capacity to respond to modern health crises. Despite having one of the world's oldest populations, Japan reported fewer COVID-19 deaths per capita during 2020-2022 than most countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), although substantial mortality continued after the legal reclassification in May 2023. The pandemic also exposed inflexible care delivery arrangements, the vulnerability of long-term care facilities, fragmented surveillance and research infrastructure, indirect health harms, and shortages and geographic maldistribution of infectious disease professionals. This narrative review summarizes Japan's response and organizes priorities for future infectious disease crises around four interdependent pillars: workforce development; interoperable surveillance, data, and research-and-development capacity; regional collaborative networks built during routine periods; and effective national institutions. Preparedness is best maintained as a layered, continuously evaluated system rather than being assembled after an emergency begins.
SN - 1349-7235
SN - 0918-2918
ER -