Photo/Illutration Aichi prefectural government officials apologize for accidentally posting names and other personal details of coronavirus patients on its dedicated website. The officials offered their apologies during a news conference held at the prefectural government building on May 5. (Katsumoto Horikawa)

NAGOYA--Aichi prefectural authorities profusely apologized for releasing the names of 396 patients with the novel coronavirus on a dedicated website intended to provide general information to residents about the number of cases of infection in the central Japan prefecture.

The names were inadvertently included in a list released May 5 of 495 people who had tested positive for COVID-19.

“We deeply apologize for this incident as it is our responsibility to ensure that infected patients and their families do not suffer any hardship caused by damaging rumors,” said a red-faced prefectural government official at a May 5 news conference.

The prefectural government announced the same day that the information was available on the website for about 45 minutes from around 9:30 a.m. that day.

According to the prefectural government, the names were included in a table listing total confirmed cases in the prefecture. The dedicated website is intended purely to share information with residents about the health crisis, mainly with regard to the local situation.

The table listed information on a total of 495 patients, whose infection had been confirmed as of May 4. The information included age groups, gender, municipalities in which the individuals reside and if they came into contact with others.

However, 396 patients were identified by name. The table also contained confidential information about the other patients, including the medical institutions where they were admitted, the dates they were hospitalized and discharged and the cluster infections where they contracted the virus.

A prefectural government official deleted the table after being informed by a resident over the phone, but the original file that contained the table remained accessible until noon that day had anyone bothered to analyze the IP address, a prefectural official said.

The prefectural government noted that the website had 739 visitors while the information was up, but said there had been no reports of copies of the table being posted on other websites or of it being misused.

The incident occurred because a staff member forgot to delete the personal information on the table before posting it on the website. Under a designated procedure, the table can only be posted after it is checked by two staff members.

But on May 5, the person responsible for the site failed to follow procedure.

The prefectural government pledged to ensure that multiple staff members check such information thoroughly from now on so there will be no recurrence.