Photo/Illutration A quarantine officer at Narita Airport in Chiba Prefecture on Feb. 1 holds up a sign asking travelers from China if they have visited Hubei province. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The number of deaths from the new coronavirus in mainland China has exceeded 400 and surpassed the death toll from the SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) outbreak from 2002 to 2003.

An inadequate medical system in China is partly to blame.

The Japanese government, for its part, needs to assess problems that have surfaced, anticipate potential developments and implement appropriate countermeasures.

Chartered flights brought Japanese citizens home from the outbreak’s epicenter of Wuhan, Hubei province. The government asked returnees not to leave their designated accommodations for two weeks. This has applied even to people who have tested negative for the virus, which was beyond what is required by law.

Their stress is bound to grow by the day. We hope the government will not only carefully heed their daily needs but also ensure the physical and emotional well-being of caregivers.

The government has failed to be proactive in many ways, such as providing suitable accommodations for returnees and explaining the situation to local governments and citizens hosting the accommodations. The government has much to learn.

With a growing number of nations imposing travel restrictions from China, Japan also tightened immigration procedures on Feb. 1. Specifically, entry is now denied to foreign nationals who were in Hubei province during the past two weeks, as well as foreign nationals bearing a Chinese passport issued by Hubei provincial authorities.

The importance of stopping any unknown pathogen at the border cannot be stressed enough. Still, the government must carefully weigh the pros and cons before implementing any forcible measures and avoid unnecessary excesses.

The World Health Organization now estimates the incubation period of the coronavirus at two to 10 days. Japan has announced that the isolation of the returnees from Wuhan will be shortened from two weeks to 10 days.

In addition to this matter, the government needs to rationally deal with the situation according to the latest knowledge.

The government decided on Feb. 4 to expand the scope of virus tests. Cases of human-to-human contagion have been confirmed in Japan, and further increases in the number of patients as well as discoveries of more dire cases are expected.

Being prepared for such eventualities is critical, and we urge the government to quickly come up with examination and treatment guidelines while being closely attuned to developments overseas.

There are concerns about the outbreak’s impact on the economy.

The drastic drop in the number of Chinese visitors to Japan has already dealt a heavy blow to tourism-related businesses around the country. Japanese companies are suspending and restricting a growing number of production and sales bases in China. A deceleration of the Chinese economy will certainly hurt the global economy.

Even without these factors, the Japanese economy is believed to have substantially contracted during the October-December quarter last year because of the U.S.-China trade war and the consumption tax hike.

The government and the Bank of Japan must scrutinize the latest trend with an open mind and disclose the findings. They need to prepare countermeasures based on developments, paying close attention to the financing needs of businesses and other factors.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 5