Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is scheduled to announce the change on Tuesday evening in a step aimed at moving the country closer to normal economic and social activity, while also preparing for outbreaks of new variants of the virus and rapidly spreading infections.

The government currently asks symptomatic individuals infected with Covid-19 to isolate at home for 10 days and asymptomatic ones for a week. After the change, the period will be shortened to seven days for symptomatic individuals as well. Officials are considering further shortening the isolation period for people without symptoms.

Japan’s isolation period is longer than in the US, where people are asked to isolate for five days, and the UK, which has eliminated the isolation period completely.

Some experts in Japan have noted problems with the government’s current policy, such as slowdowns in the work of medical professionals and businesses generally.