COVID-19's classification in Japan is limiting treatment. Now doctors want it changed.

With a rise in COVID-19 cases this summer having led to the deaths of patients who were isolating at home without medical support due to a lack of hospital capacity, some doctors have begun to call more aggressively for a downgrading of the disease’s classification — to one on par with influenza — to enable the prompt treatment of suspected patients without them having to go through cumbersome procedures just to get a doctor’s attention.

Public health centers, which are tasked with various duties in the fight against the pandemic, are currently swamped with the processing of new cases, and in some instances it takes as long as a week before an infected patient gets clearance to receive necessary medical treatment from a designated hospital, some doctors say.

Against this background, there are increasing calls for the government to downgrade COVID-19’s classification in order to ease the burden on public health centers and potentially save more lives by speeding up treatment.

The debate on whether to downgrade the disease, which is currently classified alongside some of the most serious infectious diseases, to a less-threatening Class V disease has been gaining momentum as the government mulls its pandemic exit strategy

In Japan, infectious diseases are placed into one of eight classifications: Class I through Class V and three others for those that have the potential to affect the lives of people through their rapid spread — novel influenza infections, designated infectious diseases, which are identified as such by the Cabinet and require measures equivalent to Category III and above, and new infectious diseases. Class I diseases, such as Ebola, are considered the most dangerous, while Class II includes tuberculosis.

The coronavirus is currently classified as a new influenza infection, entailing some countermeasures that are on par with those for Classes I and II. It allows the government to impose strict countermeasures, such as ordering infected patients to be quarantined or admitted to designated hospitals, and restrictions on work to prevent further spread of the disease. The classification also empowers the government to ask people to refrain from unnecessary outings, a measure that is not taken even for Class I diseases.

The proposed change to a Class V disease would allow suspected patients to get treatment at any hospital

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/09/21/national/coronavirus-classification-japan-treatment/

Truth between the lines - "in some instances it takes as long as a week before an infected patient gets clearance to receive necessary medical treatment from a designated hospital, some doctors say.

So, they were intentionally withholding medical treatment, once they start treating Covid-19 like influenza, then it's gone.