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New Year Greetings for 2023
Happy New Year!
On the occasion of the new year 2023, I would like to extend my best wishes.
I hope you all are having a glorious New Year.
This will be my fourth New Year's greeting since assuming the JIPA presidency in 2019.
2022 was a year of many events in the daily life with Corona. I would like to look back at them in order.
Firstly, it is corona-related: the new coronavirus that raged in the country from the beginning of 2020 was replaced by a coronavirus variant (Omicron strain) with a relatively low risk of serious illness, with repeated expansion/contraction of infections. The new coronavirus will continue to mutate, and there is concern that it may spread on an even larger scale before convergence, but at present, with the progress of the fourth round of vaccination, even those affected have mild to moderate symptoms and often recover without being hospitalized. Various deregulations have been implemented to prevent the spread of infection and to balance this with economic activities, and people have begun to live with coronaviruses. In October last year, waterfront measures at entry were eased, and with a valid vaccination or testing certificate, it is no longer necessary to wait in quarantine after entry to the country. However, the next peak of the eighth wave of infection is said to arrive in January this year (as of writing in November). There is concern that medical care will be tight during the year-end and New Year period, when the flow of people is expected to increase, so we should not relax, and each of us should take infection control measures such as wearing masks on a regular basis, encouraging hand washing, and avoiding three close proximity.
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[Update 2023-01-06 ]
