Coronavirus countermeasures may have reduced flu patients in Japan

February 2, 2020

Tokyo--Efforts to prevent exposure to a new coronavirus may have contributed to containing the spread of influenza in Japan this year, some experts say.

The estimated number of flu patients in the country in the fourth week of the year tumbled to 654,000 from 2,226,000 a year before.

The average number of flu patients at some 5,000 hospitals across the country came to 18, hitting the lowest level for the week since 2011, according to the health ministry.

An official of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases is cautious about the effects of measures against the new coronavirus on preventing flu infection.

The official pointed to the need to monitor the number of flu patients carefully as the figure has shown ups and downs since the first week of the year.

"We don't know to what extent infection control measures (against the new coronavirus) are having an impact" on the number of flu patients, the official said.

But a Tokyo metropolitan government official in charge of infectious diseases said that measures against the new coronavirus, including handwashing and the use of antiseptics and face masks, work well in preventing flu.

Countermeasures against the new coronavirus "are basically same as those against flu," the metropolitan official said.

Kazunobu Onai, professor at Kawasaki Medical School, said the drop in the number of flu patients apparently reflect a series of cancellations of group tours from China that have been making tourist spots where flu viruses can be spread easily less crowded. Jiji Press