Japan enacts laws on new disease-control body to help fight next pandemic

Japan’s parliament on Wednesday enacted laws to establish a new institution modeled after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better respond to health crises after the government was criticized for its handling of the coronavirus outbreak.

The center, expected to commence operations in fiscal 2025 at the earliest, will be a part of Japan’s new system for fighting the next pandemic along with other new organizations to be set up — a centralized disease response headquarters overseen by the Cabinet Secretariat and an infectious disease countermeasures department at the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.