Japan introduces forced hospitalization, entry ban over coronavirus

February 2, 2020

Tokyo--The Japanese government on Saturday launched new measures aimed at preventing the spread of a new coronavirus in the country, allowing it to require infected citizens to be hospitalized and bar the entry of some foreign nationals.

Authorities are now allowed to forcibly hospitalize patients with the virus and restrict their work, as well as mandate checkups for people who are entering the country and are suspected of carrying the virus.

The new power was introduced after the government designated pneumonia from the virus as a specified infectious disease under the infectious diseases control law and the quarantine law the same day.

In addition, the government will temporarily deny entry to foreign nationals infected with the virus, under the immigration control law. For the time being, it will also deny entry to foreign nationals with records of being in China's Hubei Province within the past 14 days and holders of Chinese passports issued by the province. Hubei is the home province of Wuhan, where the virus originated.

At a meeting of the government's task force on the virus, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called on officials to promptly draw up and implement additional measures, using budget reserve funds if necessary.

He instructed immigration officials to strictly implementing the new restrictions while being sufficiently considerate of special circumstances that entry applicants may have.

Abe also directed health officials to drastically ramp up consultation measures to allay concerns about the virus among Japanese nationals.

The Foreign Ministry called on Japanese expatriates living in Chinese provinces outside of Hubei to consider temporarily returning to Japan. It said that public transport to and from China may become even more restricted, as major airlines are suspending flights. Jiji Press