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https://scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3050524/japan-confirms-first-death-person-new-coronavirus East Asia
Japan confirms first death of person with new coronavirus
- A Japanese woman in her 80s is the country’s first coronavirus death, in the third fatality outside mainland China
- A Tokyo taxi driver and a doctor in Wakayama Prefecture have also tested positive, as Japan’s confirmed infections rise to 248
Japan's Health Minister Katsunobu Kato has announced the country’s first death related to the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Kyodo
Japan on Thursday reported its first death from the new coronavirus, the third fatality outside mainland China as the outbreak continues to spread worldwide.
Japan’s Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said the victim was a woman in her 80s living in Kanagawa prefecture, which borders on Tokyo.
He cautioned it was not clear if the virus caused her death. “The relationship between the new coronavirus and the death of the person is still unclear,” he said at a late-night briefing. “This is the first death of a person who tested positive.”
In Tokyo, a taxi driver tested positive for the virus, the health ministry said. The taxi driver was quoted as saying by a government official that his passengers may have included a Chinese person and health authorities are seeking to determine how he got the virus.
In Wakayama Prefecture, western Japan, a doctor was confirmed to have contracted the deadly pneumonia-causing virus, local authorities said.
The latest cases bring the total number of confirmed infections to nearly 250 in Japan. The bulk, 218, are passengers and crew of the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship docked at Yokoyama near Tokyo.
The tally includes foreign tourists visiting from Wuhan, the epicentre of the viral outbreak, and a Japanese bus driver who had close contact with Chinese tourists in Japan.
With thousands of passengers and crew isolated on the cruise ship for days, 44 more people were confirmed as infected with the virus on Thursday, according to the ministry.
A reporter walks near the quarantined Diamond Princess cruise ship in Yokohama, near Tokyo. Photo: AP
The coronavirus causes the disease officially known as Covid-19. It has infected more than 60,000 people around the world, and killed more than 1,300.
The Philippines confirmed the first death outside the Chinese mainland on February 2, a 44-year-old Chinese national from Wuhan.
Hong Kong reported the second death two days later, a 39-year-old man who had travelled to Hubei.
Singapore on Thursday reported eight more coronavirus cases – the largest one-day increase so far – bringing the total number of cases in the city state to 58.
The Japanese government has been stepping up its efforts to prevent the spread of infections and strengthen border controls. It has decided to spend a total of 15.3 billion yen (US$140 million) on emergency steps against the virus. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said the government will make sure that over 600 million masks will be supplied a month.
Meanwhile, the first group of Japanese nationals evacuated from Wuhan on a government-chartered aircraft amid the coronavirus outbreak was allowed to go home on Thursday after a little over two weeks of isolation.
A total of 197 people had been quarantined at a hotel in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, and government facilities since they returned on January 29 from the Chinese city.