Photo/Illutration Takarazuka Daiichi Hospital in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, suspends its outpatient services for the time being. (Yasuo Ota)

Six new virus-related deaths, all elderly people, and 63 additional cases of coronavirus infection were reported across the nation between midnight on March 14 and 10 p.m. on March 16. 

Three of the victims lived in Nagoya. The other fatalities concerned two residents of Hokkaido, a man in his 80s and a female resident of Sapporo, also in her 80s, as well as a man in his 80s in Hyogo Prefecture. All of them had tested positive for the virus. 

Authorities in Osaka Prefecture said a mother and her child were confirmed to be infected with the virus, while Hyogo Prefecture reported 15 new cases, five of them in the port city of Kobe. 

A number of people tested positive after returning from Italy. They included an official of the Chofu city government in his 20s who lives in Tokyo and traveled to Italy between Feb. 28 and March 7. Another man in his 20s who tested positive at the quarantine counter of Tokyo's Haneda Airport visited Italy between March 2 and 6, while a teenage boy who spent about six months in Italy was confirmed to be infected on his return to Japan on March 14. 

The health ministry also announced March 15 that 15 new cases had been confirmed among passengers who were aboard the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship and taken to hospitals after they disembarked for acute disease or other reasons. 

According to the ministry, they included six Japanese, both men and women ranging in age from their 50s to 70s. Seven showed no symptoms. Five of the infected individuals later tested negative for the virus and had already been discharged from hospital. 

 

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