THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
January 28, 2020 at 19:05 JST
Employees of a bus company in Kaizuka, Osaka Prefecture, implement stricter measures against infectious diseases and inspect a bus in the garage on Jan. 28. (Tatsuo Kanai)
The health ministry announced on Jan. 28 that a man who never visited Wuhan in China has been confirmed with the pneumonia-like illness believed caused by a new type of coronavirus.
Wuhan in Hubei province has been in lock down mode after thousands of local residents were diagnosed with the new illness.
But according to the health ministry announcement, the two latest confirmations of the illness include a bus driver in Nara Prefecture in his 60s who has never visited Wuhan. However, the bus driver did operate a tour bus in Tokyo on Jan. 12 that included tourists from Wuhan.
He developed symptoms including the chills, a cough and joint pain from Jan. 14. He went to a medical institution in Nara Prefecture on Jan. 17, but no irregularities were discovered at that time.
However, on Jan. 22 his symptoms worsened so he again visited the medical institution on Jan. 25. He was confirmed to have pneumonia symptoms and was hospitalized at another Nara Prefecture medical institution. The bus driver said he wore a face mask while visiting the various institutions.
The other confirmed case was for a man in his 40s who resides in Wuhan. He came to Japan on Jan. 20, but did not show any signs of having the pneumonia-like illness. But he visited a medical institution in Aichi Prefecture on Jan. 26 after his condition worsened from Jan. 22. He has been hospitalized since Jan. 28 after being diagnosed with pneumonia symptoms.
Health ministry officials who interviewed the man were told he did not visit the seafood market in Wuhan that has been linked to many patients coming down with the new illness. He also told the officials he wore a face mask while outdoors.
The latest confirmations bring the total number of cases in Japan to six.
The government was planning to dispatch a charter flight to Wuhan later on Jan. 28 to repatriate Japanese nationals living in that eastern Chinese city.
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