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Reuters

SCMP’s Asia desk

A coronavirus patient in Japan who had been discharged from hospital after recovering has again tested positive, officials said on Thursday, as the country grappled with rising unhappiness over the slow pace of virus testing.
The woman, a tour guide in her 40s, had been treated at a hospital in Osaka prefecture and left early in February, NHK reported.
She was on a bus carrying tourists from Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak originated last December.
Coronavirus: doctors in Japan harassed by colleagues for carrying ‘germs’
The woman tested positive on January 29 and was discharged after being confirmed to be virus-free on February 6, NHK World reported.
But on February 19, she felt throat and chest pain. She took a second test and was confirmed with the Covid-19 disease again.


The case came a day after Japan’s health ministry on Wednesday defended its cautious approach to coronavirus testing.
The country has recorded 186 cases of the Covid-19 disease, separate from the 705 cases on the Diamond Princess cruise ship. Eight people have died, including four from the vessel.
The health ministry said the crew of the cruise liner would begin disembarking on Thursday.
About 240 crew members will stay at the National Tax College in Wako, Saitama prefecture, near Tokyo for further monitoring by doctors, and can leave the facility if testing negative for the virus, the ministry said.
The ship was carrying 3,700 passengers and crew from 56 countries and regions when it arrived in Yokohama this month. Most of the passengers disembarked last week and some crew members left Japan with the help of their governments.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that the government would ask all elementary, junior high and high schools to close from March 2 until spring break, typically around the end of March.
The measure affects 12.8 million students at 34,847 schools nationwide, the education ministry said.
The northern island of Hokkaido, the most affected area in Japan with 38 cases.
“We know that this virus will only spread even more and yet we can’t even get tested,” said one mother in Hokkaido’s Sapporo city, adding she hoped testing capacity would be expanded.


Government guidelines said people should call designated hotlines for consultation on whether they should get tested if they have cold-like symptoms, a fever of 37.5 Celsius or extreme tiredness or breathing problems for four days or more. In the meantime, they should stay at home.
The elderly, pregnant women or those with certain medical conditions that put them at risk should make the call if they have such symptoms for two or more days, the guidelines said.
Virus spreads from Italy to Brazil, reaching every continent but Antarctica
“The most important goal of testing is to test those with symptoms, especially the elderly or those with pre-existing conditions who are at risk of becoming seriously ill,” a health ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“I think there are people who are worried and want to be tested but … that would overwhelm the capacity of medical facilities and we couldn’t treat those who need treatment.”


Japan Medical Association President Yoshitake Yokokura told a news conference the group would investigate reports that people referred by doctors to local health centres for tests were being turned away due to manpower shortages, NHK said.
Grilled in parliament by opposition party leader Yukio Edano, Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said that 6,300 tests were conducted from February 18 to 24 for an average of 900 per day, while up to 3,800 tests could be done daily.
“There are many people who say they cannot be tested although their fever continues,” Edano said. “Our country’s resources are not being fully mobilised.”
Kato said the central government would need to review patient lists and keep tabs on the condition of those previously discharged.
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Masahiro Kami, a doctor and head of the non-profit Medical Governance Research Institute, said the government should test more people sooner to prevent deaths.
“They should test early and treat early but instead they are testing after people have pneumonia to confirm the virus,” Kami said.
But some other independent experts agreed with the government approach.
“It isn’t good to do tests just to ease public anxiety,” said Kentaro Iwata, an infectious disease specialist at Kobe University who this month criticised Japan’s handling of the virus-hit cruise liner.
“If they test everyone with light symptoms, the medical system will puncture,” he said, adding authorities needed to do more to explain the guidelines and gain public understanding.


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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: Japanese tour guide who met Wuhan travellers again tests positive

A Diamond Princess passenger has her temperature taken upon leaving the coronavirus-hit cruise ship on February 21, 2020. Photo: Reuters

Could the coronavirus crisis sink the cruise industry?

Image: Dennis Yip

epa08227557 (FILE) - An ambulance believed to be carring an infected passenger of the Diamond Princess cruise ship leaves the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, 16 February 2020 (reissued 19 February 2020). According to latest media reports 19 February 2020, another 79 more passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship have been tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus. EPA-EFE/FRANCK ROBICHON

epa08227105 Passengers of the Diamond Princess cruise ship send off other passengers leaving the Daikoku Pier Cruise Terminal in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Japan, 19 February 2020. Passengers of the cruise ship started to disembark after a two-week-long quarantine period following the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak. A total of 542 passengers and crew were tested positive for Covid-19. The disease caused by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) has been officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has so far killed more than 2,000 people with over 75,000 infected worldwide, mostly in China. EPA-EFE/TORU HANAI

Passengers wait for transportation after leaving the coronavirus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokohama Port, south of Tokyo, Japan, February 20, 2020. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

Passengers disembark from the Westerdam cruise ship at the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia on Feb. 15, 2020. The Cambodian government allowed the ship to enter the port after it had been turned away from at least five ports in Asia over coronavirus fears. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

Coronavirus: Singapore develops new serological test to establish links between cases

South Korean tourists pictured at an airport leaving Israel on Monday. Photo: AFP

A worker wearing a protective suit sprays disinfectant at an ambulance at Dongsan Medical Center in Daegu, South Korea, Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2020. China and South Korea on Tuesday reported more cases of a new viral illness that has been concentrated in North Asia but is causing global worry as clusters grow in the Middle East and Europe. (Ryu Young-suk/Yonhap via AP)

epa08224919 A visitor has her temperature checked before entering the uddha Tooth Relic Temple in the Chinatown district of Singapore, 17 February 2020 (issued 18 February 2020). The Singapore government will announce its budget on 18 February and introduce a range of measures to help businesses hit by the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) outbreak. Among those hit hardest by the global health crisis, the tourism sector as well as those in retail, transport, F&B, and manufacturing will receive support for wages and rental. The disease caused by the virus has been officially named COVID-19 by the World Health Organization (WHO). The outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has so far killed more than 1,800 people with over 73,000 infected worldwide, mostly in China. EPA-EFE/WALLACE WOON

How Iran’s coronavirus death toll came to be the highest behind only China

Pedestrians in Tehran wear masks amid an outbreak of coronavirus in Iran. Photo: AP

A medical team wearing protective outfit awaits to check Iraqi passengers returning from Iran upon their arrival at the Najaf International Airport on February 21, 2020, after Iran announced cases of coronavirus infections in the Islamic republic. (Photo by Haidar HAMDANI / AFP)

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. Officials in Iran haven't announced the full results from parliamentary elections two days ago, but on Sunday the country's supreme leader accused enemy "propaganda" of trying to disuade people from voting by amplifying the threat of the coronavirus. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

Commuters wear masks to help guard against the Coronavirus on a public bus in downtown Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Feb. 23, 2020. On Sunday Iran's health ministry raised the death toll from the new virus to 8 people in the country, amid concerns that clusters there, as well as in Italy and South Korea, could signal a serious new stage in its global spread. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

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Asia

East Asia

The Osaka woman was declared virus-free on February 6, but again tested positive on February 19 after feeling throat and chest pain
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that the government would ask all schools to close from March 2 until spring break


The Osaka woman was declared virus-free on February 6, but again tested positive on February 19 after feeling throat and chest pain.


Japan

Coronavirus pandemic: All stories

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