An intensifying global pandemic wasn’t going to spoil the fun of three Kyoto Sangyo University students.

The male students had traveled to European countries infested with the novel coronavirus and joined parties in Kyoto after returning to Japan.

But the party was over after the three tested positive for the novel coronavirus. By that time, they may have already spread it to fellow students, school-related people and friends and family in their home prefectures.

The three students are not alone in their apparent disregard for the virus that has shut down countries and killed thousands of people around the world.

Government officials and health experts are now making desperate pleas for young people to stop partying and traveling, saying their restraint could save lives.

“We feel extremely uneasy about the (situation),” Kyoto Governor Takatoshi Nishiwaki said at an emergency news conference on March 30, following a recent spike in the number of Kyoto Sangyo University students confirmed with COVID-19, the potentially fatal disease caused by the new coronavirus.

By March 29, eight students and others related to the university had tested positive for the virus. The following day, eight more students and related people were confirmed infected.

The prefectural government believes the partying students caused a “cluster infection.”

“I know it is a special season for students to get together and socialize for graduation, enrollment, new employment and other things, but I urge them to be cautious in what they do and think about preventing the spread of infection,” Nishiwaki said.

TOUR IN EUROPE, THEN KARAOKE

According to the university and other sources, the three male seniors visited Britain, Iceland, Switzerland, France and Spain from March 2 to 13.

After returning to Japan, they attended parties for study groups and extra-curricular activity clubs. The three later developed fevers.

Two of the three students are originally from Ehime and Ishikawa prefectures. They had returned to their hometowns after attending the parties in Kyoto.

The three later tested positive in Ehime, Ishikawa and Kyoto prefectures.

The student from Ehime Prefecture joined a study group party attended by about 30 people on March 21, about a week after his return from Europe. They also went to two after-parties that included karaoke.

Eight of them tested positive in Kyoto Prefecture, while three others were confirmed infected in their hometown prefectures--Wakayama, Toyama and Kagawa.

The male senior from Ishikawa Prefecture attended a party held by an extra-curricular activity group on March 22 after returning from the European tour.

About a dozen people were at the party, and two of them later tested positive in Kyoto and Okayama prefectures.

Terumasa Oshiro, president of the university, apologized to the public on March 29.

“The university should have made a more thorough effort and alerted students to raise awareness,” Oshiro said.

The university has postponed the start of classes until May 11. All student extra-curricular activities are banned until April 12.

UNPRECEDENTED MESSAGE

A female student at the Prefectural University of Hiroshima traveled to Britain, France, Spain and Germany from March 5 to 13.

She showed no symptoms of the disease when she attended a 15-minute diploma awarding ceremony on March 23 at the university’s campus in Hiroshima. All of the windows at the venue were open, and the tables for attendees were set wide apart as a precaution against infection.

The Hiroshima city government concluded that nobody at the ceremony came in close contact with the female student.

The university, however, has asked all 270 or so graduating students who attended the ceremony to stay home until April 6.

“Students who have been asked for self-restraint may think twice about what actions to take,” Kenichi Nakamura, president of the university, said. “I want them to think about their impact on society, rather than reducing (the decision) to the term ‘individual responsibility.’”

The university has also canceled the enrollment ceremony that was scheduled for April 3 and might push back the date for the start of classes.

At an emergency news conference on March 30, Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike also voiced concerns about the behavior of young people.

“More and more people tested positive with the infection route unknown,” she said. “I urge young people in particular to refrain from going to karaoke facilities and live music venues for the time being.”

Kyosuke Nagata, president of the Japan Association of National Universities who also heads the University of Tsukuba, issued an unprecedented statement on March 5 that urged students not to travel or return to their hometowns.

“Please be aware that young people with COVID-19 may not show symptoms, but there is a good chance you could become a source of infection and transmit the disease to others,” Nagata said in the statement.

“Traveling outside your residential area can lead to the spread of the virus nationwide,” he said.

‘USE YOUR IMAGINATION’

Hitoshi Oshitani, a professor of virology at Tohoku University and a member of the government’s panel of experts, said young people’s self-restraint will save the lives of others.

“If infected with COVID-19, young people may not develop severe symptoms. But once the infection spreads beyond them, it could reach elderly people and those with pre-existing conditions who are at high risk of developing severe symptoms,” he said.

Oshitani also said an increase in patients could overwhelm health care facilities.

“Lives that can be saved under ordinary circumstances will be lost. I want young people to use their imagination about such possibilities and refrain from activities and behaviors that could lead them to become infected with the virus and the source of infection,” he said.

Oshitani listed “hot spots” that young people should avoid, such as enclosed spaces with close contact with many people.

The list also includes dining and drinking parties in large groups, bars with wait staff, events involving loud voices, singing or rigorous dancing, indoor table tennis, and gyms.

The elderly should avoid these hot spots as well, Oshitani said.

Health ministry data as of March 28 indicated that 10 percent of the 1,647 infected people in Japan are in their 20s.

In South Korea, where COVID-19 tests have been widely conducted, 27 percent of those infected are in their 20s.

The ministry has not ruled out the possibility that the younger generation accounts for a much higher percentage of COVID-19 cases in Japan.

The government’s anti-virus task force headquarters, which decided on March 28 on the basic guidelines for preventing the spread of the new coronavirus, has been alarmed by the number of Japanese who have been infected abroad.

Around 13 percent of the positive tests in Japan for COVID-19 during the period from March 11 to 18 involved people who had recently returned from overseas. The ratio jumped to 29 percent the following week.

As of March 29, 51 people have tested positive at airport quarantine stations, and about 40 percent of them, or 21, were in their 20s. Many of them said they had traveled abroad for spring vacation.

The number of known COVID-19 patients worldwide has exploded since mid-March.

In European countries and the United States, popular destinations for Japanese travelers, about 1,500 people were infected as of March 1, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Twenty days later, the number had increased 110-fold to 166,000.

The disease may have spread earlier and wider, considering the incubation period for the novel coronavirus is said to be from one to 14 days, and diagnosis can be difficult because the symptoms are similar to those of influenza.

Yoshiaki Katsuda, a professor of travel medicine at the Kansai University of Social Welfare, said a second wave of COVID-19 has come from Europe and the United States, following the influx during the Chinese New Year in January.

In South Korea, the number of people who were infected abroad was 312 over the last week, triple the figure of the previous week.

The Japanese government on March 21 started asking people who have returned from European countries to stay at a hotel or home for 14 days. The same request started on March 26 for people arriving from the United States.

Government officials and health experts believe that many returnees from abroad enter Japan without knowing that they are carrying the virus.

“These returnees should follow the request and stay home and thoroughly check their health conditions,” Katsuda said. “At the same time, they should not be discriminated against.”

(This article was written by Masayuki Takashima, Manae Narita, Yuri Oiwa and Akiyoshi Abe.)