Japan Panel Urges Prescription-Free Antigen Test Kits

Tokyo, May 27 (Jiji Press)--A Japanese government panel Friday called for allowing COVID-19 antigen test kits to be bought at pharmacies without prescriptions by doctors.

The proposal by the Council for Promotion of Regulatory Reform, which advises the prime minister, is aimed at promoting the use of the tests to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus as Japan prepares to fully restart economic and social activities.

The panel included some 300 proposals in five fields, such as the area of medicine, nursing and infectious disease control, in its policy recommendation to the government adopted Friday.

The government hopes to draw up an action plan based on the proposals and adopt it along with the economic and fiscal policy guidelines to be compiled in early June.

"It is necessary to make test kits widely available and usable for businesses and the public" in order to balance economic and social activities with infection prevention, the policy paper said.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]