Coronavirus spreads further in Japan; Shiga sees 1st case

March 5, 2020

Tokyo--The COVID-19 coronavirus disease spread further in Japan on Thursday, with the western prefecture of Shiga seeing its first infection case.

According to the Shiga government, a man in his 60s in the prefectural capital of Otsu developed a fever Feb. 25 and visited a medical institution in the city five times by Wednesday.

He was later diagnosed with suspected pneumonia at a different institution and tested positive for the virus Thursday. He is hospitalized and recovering.

The prefectural government is checking his recent visit history in detail and working to identify those who had close contact with him.

Also on Thursday, a man in his 60s in the northern city of Sapporo, a woman in her 70s in the central Japan city of Niigata and a man in his 30s in the western city of Osaka were confirmed to have the coronavirus. The Osaka man recently visited the Philippines.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga quoted experts as saying that it is still possible to curb the speed of viral transmission in the country though small infection clusters have occurred in some areas.

As of 11 p.m. Wednesday (2 p.m. GMT), 1,035 coronavirus cases had been confirmed in Japan, including 12 fatalities. Jiji Press