COVID-19 patients to pay for most treatments after status downgrade

Coronavirus patients will generally be required to pay for their own medical expenses after the legal status of COVID-19 is downgraded to the same category as common infectious diseases on May 8, the Japanese government said Friday.Under the reclassification of COVID-19 to Class 5 diseases like seasonal influenza, the government will also aim to increase the number of medical institutions that provide outpatient COVID-19 treatments by 50 percent, while expensive drugs will continue to be subsidized until the end of September."We are shifting from a special response by a limited number of me…READ FULL ARTICLE