The total number of people who newly tested positive for HIV and new AIDS patients in Japan in 2022 hit a 20-year low of 870, the health ministry said Wednesday.
Data released by the ministry showed that the combined figure included 625 new HIV carriers and 245 new AIDS patients.
Meanwhile, the number of HIV antibody tests conducted at public health centers and other places in 2022 rose by 14,932, or 25.6 percent, from the previous year to 73,104, and that of consultations about HIV grew by 12,458, or 22.8 percent, to 67,009.
The numbers each increased for the first time in three years, but remained at about 50 percent of their 2019 levels, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry added.
