Japan issues coronavirus medical guidance as infections rise

Passengers wearing protective face masks travel by train in Tokyo on Monday.  Photo: REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

TOKYO-Japan's health ministry issued guidance Monday for when people with symptoms consistent with the new coronavirus should consult medical institutions, as the country steps up efforts to contain its spread with more cases, even among medical staff, confirmed.

The ministry is now encouraging people who have had a temperature of 37.5 C or higher for four days, are feeling lethargic or are experiencing shortness of breath to contact by phone nationwide health-care centers in charge of responding to the outbreak.

The centers will then recommend medical institutions they should visit. The period is shorter at two days for the elderly and those with underlying conditions such as diabetes, as they are viewed as more vulnerable to the pneumonia-causing virus, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said.

The guidance is intended to give those worried about contracting the virus an idea of when and where to go to a doctor while a government panel of experts has said the country is at an early stage of infection.

The virus has spread from Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak in central China, to more than 20 countries. As of Monday night, Japan has confirmed 520 cases with most found on a quarantined cruise ship, the Diamond Princess, at Yokohama.

The number of cases continued to rise on the vessel as another 99, including 43 Japanese, were reported, bringing the total to 454 with a few days to go until the end of a two-week quarantine period on Wednesday.

The health ministry said its official in his 50s who worked as a liaison on the vessel has been hospitalized after testing positive for the virus, in the latest case of infection among medical and other staffers.

In a separate case in Sagamihara near Tokyo, a nurse was also found to have been diagnosed with the respiratory disease, now officially named COVID-19. She had taken care of a woman in her 80s who last week became the country's first confirmed fatality from the infection.

The nurse in her 40s developed a fever and vomited on Friday. She took a virus test the following day due to her close contact with the woman who died Thursday, according to the Kanagawa prefectural government.

Japan is scrambling to strengthen its virus testing capabilities with its immediate target of 3,000 tests a day and increase medical facilities across the nation to treat infected people.

Raising public concerns, the number of cases despite no recent record of coming into contact with people from virus-stricken regions in China or without symptoms has been increasing.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said in the Diet that the government will strive to provide more information in English while raising awareness about the disease at home by using TV commercials and other means.

In unveiling the medical guidance, health minister Katsunobu Kato said at a press conference that people with colds or influenza tend to see their health recover after three to four days on average while those infected with the virus do not.

Kato also asked individuals who have developed cold-like symptoms to keep track of their temperature and refrain from going to work or school.

For more information, call 0120-565653 or visit https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/kenkou_iryou/covid19-kikokusyasessyokusya.html

HKSAR to evacuate HK passengers from Diamond Princess, U.S. evacuees quarantined at bases

The cruise ship Diamond Princess, where dozens of passengers were tested positive for coronavirus, is seen at Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, February 10, 2020. /Reuters

Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Monday dispatched a special team to Japan to arrange two chartered flights for the evacuation of over 300 Hong Kong residents on board the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Zeng Weiguo, head of the HKSAR immigration department, said Tuesday night that what's most important now is to have access to Hong Kong passengers' information, but Japanese officials cannot confirm it

According to Japanese authorities, all passengers remained on the ship still have to be tested and those who are tested positive for the virus will not be allowed to leave.

The tests will be completed on Thursday. Zeng said they will do their best to send Hong Kong passengers home by chartered flights on Thursday.

Tokyo Haneda Airport will be the location where the two Hong Kong chartered flights take off. Apart from the more than 300 Hong Kong passengers who will be abroad the planes, five other Macao passengers will also be evacuated by the same flights. 

Checking the temperatures of passengers aboard the Diamond Princess, on a chartered evacuation aircraft from Japan's Tokyo International Haneda airport, en route to Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., February 17, 2020. (courtesy of Philip and Gay Courter/Handout via REUTERS )

More than 300 American cruise passengers, including 14 who tested positive, are being quarantined on two separate U.S. military bases after leaving Japan, the Associated Press reports. 

One plane carried passengers to Travis Air Force Base in Northern California, while another touched down at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. 

U.S. officials said the cruise passengers who arrived at Travis will stay at a different location from the 200 other Americans already quarantined on the base. 

No Travis personnel will have contact with the passengers, officials said. 

The U.S. State Department said that the 14 passengers who tested positive for the COVID-19 were exposed to other passengers for about 40 minutes before being isolated. 

The U.S. organized the evacuation because people on the Diamond Princess were at high risk of exposure to the new coronavirus, which has infected more 72,500, primarily in China, and killed 1,870 people. The evacuation cut short 14-day quarantine on the cruise ship that began February 3. 

The cruise ship evacuees will be quarantined for another 14 days – for a total of nearly four weeks. 

The quarantine on the Diamond Princess ends Wednesday. The remaining crew members will disembark in Yokohama. As of Tuesday, 542 cases of the virus were identified among the 3,711 passengers. This makes the Diamond Princess the highest concentration of new infections outside China. 

Investigators are trying to determine why.

Source: https://japantoday.com；CGTN

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