Photo/Illutration The Hotel New Otani in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

More than 300 new coronavirus infections were confirmed around Japan on April 3 for the first time.

As of 12:25 a.m. on April 4, there were 355 new cases, bringing the total number of infections in Japan, including those who were on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was placed in a two-week quarantine at Yokohama Port, to 3,850.

In Tokyo, the metropolitan government reported 89 new cases, bringing the total number of cases over the past week to 474. The figure represents about 60 percent of the 773 confirmed cases in the capital.

Two patients at Eiju General Hospital in Tokyo’s Taito Ward died as a result of the novel coronavirus infection. The hospital is one of a number of facilities where a cluster of infections has arisen. So far, a total of nine people with ties to the hospital have died due to the coronavirus.

In Ehime Prefecture, an infant girl who has not yet reached her first birthday was confirmed with the coronavirus, but showed no symptoms.

A man in his 50s living in Saitama Prefecture was also confirmed as being infected. He worked as a waiter for functions held at the swank Hotel New Otani in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward. Hotel officials are trying to track down anybody who came in close contact with the man.

In Okinawa Prefecture, a man in his 20s who began working for the prefectural government from April 1 was confirmed with the coronavirus. The man attended a welcome ceremony that day to learn what his new job tasks would entail.

As Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki also attended the ceremony, he and the entire prefectural government staff have been advised to closely monitor their health conditions for the next two weeks.

Thirty prefectural government officials who were in close contact with the infected man have been ordered to self-isolate at home so as not to spread infection.

April 3 also marked the first day of stricter quarantine measures at airports across Japan. The move came as 49 additional nations were put on a list banning entry of foreign nationals carrying passports of those nations or who visited those countries over the past two weeks.

Japanese nationals returning from 73 nations, including the 49, will be required to undergo polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests to check for coronavirus infection.

Health ministry officials anticipated that as many as 1,000 arriving passengers will have to take the test at five major international airports, including Narita and Haneda servicing Tokyo, and Kansai, where the cities of Kyoto, Kobe and Osaka are located.

There were long lines of passengers waiting to take the test at Narita Airport. Passengers on some flights had to wait about seven hours to take the PCR test.

Some passengers complained they were kept waiting in the confines of the aircraft and that social distancing was not possible for those forming lines to take the test.

(This article was written by Yoshifumi Fukuda, Yuta Ichijo and Sokichi Kuroda.)

Related News