Coronavirus: Hokkaido snow festival that drew 2 million visitors should have been axed, says Japanese expert
- Some 2 million people, including tourists from China, visited the prefecture in February for the Sapporo Snow Festival
- Hokkaido has the country’s largest number of coronavirus infections, with hospitals treating 118 cases
Japan’s most northerly island has the largest number of infections in the country, with national broadcaster NHK on Thursday reporting that hospitals across the prefecture were treating 118 confirmed cases. There are a total of 1,316 infections across Japan, including 696 cases from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, and 23 people have died.
“The festival is an event held outdoors, which was supposed to mean it was safer, but people did not just go to see the ice statues,” said Yoko Tsukamoto, a professor at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido who specialises in infection control for nurses.
“People went to restaurants, they stayed in hotels, they used public transport, they were in crowded places,” she said. “Any mass gathering poses a risk,” she said.
Before the February 4 opening of the event, local health authorities were aware of a woman from China’s Wuhan city who was in Sapporo and had tested positive for the virus. A further two people were suspected of being infected.