Photo/Illutration Many flights are canceled, and there are few passengers except for airport officials seen in the arrival lobby of Narita Airport Terminal 1 on March 9. (Toshiyuki Hayashi)

Thirty-one new coronavirus-related cases were confirmed in Japan between the morning and 10 p.m. of March 15, sending the total number of infected past 1,500.

The newly infected patients include a nursing home nurse, a supermarket employee, returnees from abroad and others.

Two elderly infected patients in Nagoya and Sapporo died, putting the death toll at 31 across the nation. 

The elderly man in Nagoya who died had been associated with the city's day care center for the elderly where infected patients have been confirmed in succession. A woman in her 80s in Sapporo also died due to the coronavirus. 

In all, there have been 1,515 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 709 occurring inside the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship.

In Kanagawa Prefecture, the infection of a female nurse in her 70s who works at a long-term health care facility in Yokosuka was announced.

The woman had traveled to Egypt, and between Feb. 24 and 26, she took a cruise on a Nile river ship. She returned to Japan on March 1.

Since March 8, she suffered from a cough and fatigue but continued working for the first few days. She went to a hospital on March 13.

It was also announced that a man in his 50s who lives in an area under the jurisdiction of Chigasaki city’s health center was infected.

The man, an employee of the supermarket Life located in the Kamakura Ofuna mall in Kamakura, had been working there until March 10. He was found to be infected with the virus on March 14.

The grocery store was temporarily closed on March 15 and will remain shut down until March 16.

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