In the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, clinics reported new cases to public health centers by fax. On May 15, 2020, the government began trial operation of HER-SYS, a system for reporting them electronically. By September 10, 2020, all 155 local governments with public health centers were using it.
The government’s 2021 white paper on information and communications also noted that each ministry had built its own vertically divided office network.