On February 25, 2020, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced a basic set of policies on handling the novel coronavirus infections (COVID-19). In response to such announcement, Hiroshima Prefectural Office also issued a guideline regarding the handling of the events staged by Hiroshima Prefecture on February 26. The guideline included the measures to prevent the further spread of the infection, requesting the public to refrain from holding events. Additionally, on March 1, the Japanese government also issued a guideline entitled “Measures to prevent novel coronavirus outbreaks” (Link in Japanese). 

Based on its reviews at the Conference on Measures against Novel Coronavirus Infection established on February 4, HU has decided to hold those events staged by the University in accordance with the following policy.

Please note that this policy remains valid until further notice (Even after March 31). It may be subject to further reviews as needed by considering the extent of infection in Japan.

As a general rule, all events or activities must be postponed/cancelled until further notice. In case you are organizing an event that cannot be postponed/ cancelled in the end, you are obliged to do the following: taking all the relevant preventive measures in line with the criteria shown below by taking into account the extent of the infection/the number of the participants. However, if you come to the conclusion that you are not able to take all the relevant preventative measures, the event in question has to be either postponed or cancelled.

Criteria for Considering Postponement/Cancellation of a Given Event

• Large-scale gathering:
  When the given event is expected to have many and unspecified number of participants, and it seems difficult to follow up each participant following the event.
• Venue:
  Event venues with poor indoor ventilation.
• Duration:
  Prolonged duration of the event in the same venue.
• Proximity among the participants (i.e. Interpersonal distance):
  Events where participants come close, or come face-to-face, or come into contact with each other (within 2 meters).
• Participants:
  Events where the participants include the following: elderly people, people with underlying disease(s), people with disabilities, and children.

Necessary measures to be taken when organizing events

• Participants with symptoms such as fever should be asked to refrain from attending the event (prior notice).
• Asking the public to rigidly follow coughing etiquette, and reminding them of frequent hand washing.
• Place alcohol disinfectants at multiple locations within the venue.
• In case of the indoor event, the venue should be regularly ventilated.
• Try to minimize the likelihood of direct contact with each participant as well as face-to-face communication.
• Try to reduce the scale of the event by limiting the number or participants and reducing the time of the event.