(Update) 2 More Japanese returnees found to have new coronavirus

February 12, 2020

Tokyo--Japan's health ministry said Tuesday that two more Japanese people who returned home from Wuhan on government-chartered flights have been confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus that originated in the Chinese city.

One of them, a man in his 50s and resident of Wuhan, arrived back to Japan on Jan. 29 on the first of four flights chartered by the Japanese government for evacuation, the ministry said. The other, a man in his 40s from Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo, returned on Jan. 30 on the second chartered flight.

Right after their return home, both men had no symptoms and tested negative for the new coronavirus. Their infections were confirmed in second virus tests, conducted on Monday, after they showed symptoms such as fever, the ministry said.

The four flights transported a total of 763 people to Japan, including family members of Japanese returnees. Of them, 12 people have now been confirmed to be infected with the virus.

The total number of people who have tested positive for the virus in Japan now totals 163, including those from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, which is currently quarantined off the country.

The man in his 50s, who showed a negative result in a virus test conducted on Jan. 30, was hospitalized after he developed a fever of 38.5 degrees Celsius and started coughing on Friday, according to the ministry.

The man in his 40s had a fever of 39.5 degrees on Saturday while staying at his home, and was diagnosed as pneumonia on Monday, it said. Jiji Press