As more countries ease their mask mandates, the top official overseeing Japan¡¯s COVID-19 response has suggested that the government could recommend a phased relaxation of mask-wearing.

Economic revitalization minister Daishiro Yamagiwa, who is concurrently leading the government¡¯s pandemic response, hinted during an NHK television program Sunday that such a gradual recommendation could eventually be in the cards as COVID-19 cases fall.

¡°We would like to create a situation where the number of new infections is quite low and the risk of contracting the disease during everyday activities can be disregarded,¡± Yamagiwa said. ¡°If such conditions are created, masks will no longer be necessary.¡±

However, Yamagiwa said he was uncertain when such conditions could be achieved and that there are still ¡°many steps¡± that must be taken before masks are no longer needed in some situations.

Unlike some Western countries ¡ª where masks have become a politically charged issue ¡ª Japan does not have government mandated rules for masks. Instead it has relied on a long tradition of mask-wearing, especially during hay fever and influenza seasons.

Yamagiwa also said that experts have largely agreed that masks are not needed in open outdoor spaces.

¡°I think it is true that when you are outside in the open air, you do not need a mask,¡± he said.

The government currently recommends wearing a mask at schools and workplaces and in other settings where many people gather, while also avoiding the ¡°three Cs,¡± or close-contact settings, closed spaces and crowded places.

Citing the example of outdoor settings, he said, ¡°It¡¯s realistic to gradually (ease the use of masks) based on accumulating scientific evidence and increase the recommended scenarios in which (masks are) no longer necessary.¡±

Asked on the same program about how Japan should approach its mask recommendations, Shigeru Omi, Japan¡¯s top coronavirus adviser, said that because the current environment remains extremely fluid, it is important to ¡°carefully but quickly¡± consider what to do.

However, the head of the Japan Medical Association has disagreed, urging Japan not to re-evaluate its mask recommendations.

¡°I believe that the day people can stop wearing masks will never come in Japan so long as the country continues seeing coronavirus cases,¡± Toshio Nakagawa told a news conference Wednesday.