Coronavirus and work rules in Japan for pregnant women

Pregnant women in Japan must be worried about coronavirus, especially if they still need to go to work by train or bus. Even if you are careful, there is always a risk of catching it. As such, many pregnant women must have been hoping to be able to work from home or change their work duties.

Fortunately, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (厚生労働省、こうせいろうどうしょう）now requires firms to allow pregnant workers to work from home or take leave if they ask in order to protect them from coronavirus.
Such workers will need to submit documentation received from a doctor or a midwife.

The documentation is called “母性健康管理指導事項連絡カード（ぼせいけんこうかんりしどうじこうれんらくかーど）”. Since this is such an absurdly long name, this document is often called simply “renraku card” or “bosei renraku card”.
This new regulation applies from 7th May until the end of January 2021.

If you are pregnant, working at a company, and worried about catching coronavirus, please get the documentation and submit it to your work! I hope this new rule helps to reduce the anxiety of many pregnant women and their families!

Here is the link to this news;
https://www3.nhk.or.jp/news/html/20200507/k10012419631000.html