Japan is already the country with the second most known infections after China. Now the first cases have arisen in which the infection routes are unclear.
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The United States is preparing to evacuate 400 nationals who are on the Diamond Princess in Yokohama Harbor.
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Japan’s health minister Katsunobu Kato is not a man who spreads panic. But at the weekend, politicians also had to admit a danger that epidemiologists have been warning about for a long time: the spread of the corona virus in Japan. “Japan is apparently in a new phase in which the routes of infection in some cases are unclear,” said the minister. “We cannot rule out that the virus will spread like other infectious diseases of the past.”
Japanese government in crisis mode
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe therefore convened an expert committee on Sunday to discuss how to proceed. The head of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Takaji Wakita, left no doubt as to the importance: “With the support of the entire nation, we must take measures to curb the spread of the disease.”
The sudden act of action is triggered by several cases in which virus carriers were not in China for the first time or had to do with visitors from China. According to experts in the World Health Organization, Japan is the first country after China in which the contagion routes of some of those affected could no longer be traced.
Five new cases in Tokyo
In addition, Japan is the country with the second most known infections after China, and not only because of the cruise ship “Diamond Princess”, on which almost 3,700 people have been quarantined in the port of Yokohama since February 3. 70 new infections were found there on Saturday, increasing the total number on the ship to 355 cases among the 1219 boat occupants tested. The rest of the passengers and crew are expected to be examined in the coming days. On Sunday, the United States began to get citizens willing to leave on board. Canada and Hong Kong also plan to rescue their nationals before official quarantine ends on February 19 for those who have not had close contact with the infected.
But the number of sick people is also increasing on land, and now a pensioner has died of the virus. On Sunday, five cases of infected people were reported in Tokyo, the majority of which had infected her son. The virus was diagnosed in around sixty people in the country. These developments prompted the Korean Disease Control Agency to warn not only of trips to China, Singapore and Thailand, but also trips to Japan.
In the land of the rising sun there is growing concern that it will become an epicenter of the epidemic. This already shows the fact that a measure of exemplary Japanese infection prevention has been in short supply for weeks: face masks. For decades, they have been part of the cityscape in Japan in addition to alcohol sprayers in lobbies from authorities or offices. Many people wear them especially in autumn and winter to protect themselves from viruses or to avoid infecting other people.
Face masks are becoming a rationed commodity
But now the shelves in the drugstores have been swept empty, where the Japanese used to be able to choose between many different masks: for children, for women, for men, with colorful prints or in plain white. There are even those that warm and humidify the air we breathe, or those with flavors. Instead, a large drugstore in Yokohama advises customers that new supplies are only sold in a rationed manner in order to prevent hoarding of masks.
The number of concerned citizens is steadily increasing. Doctors and telephone help centers that the government has set up are reporting growing numbers of concerns. Even the otherwise relaxed media no longer want to ignore the concerns of their readers. The daily Asahi Shimbun warns: “We have to assume there will be a domestic expansion.” The newspaper “Mainichi Shimbun” meanwhile appeals to its readers to keep calm. However, it calls for more active measures, warns of economic damage and even criticizes the government: “It seems that the government is lagging behind the situation.”
Limited capacity in the event of an epidemic
The government has now responded by stepping up efforts to mitigate a possible wave of illness. So far, the focus has been on border controls. In Tokyo, it was realized that the current isolation strategy would quickly reach its limits in the event of a real epidemic. Nationwide, according to the business newspaper “Nikkei” there are only 1871 beds in isolation departments.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced on Sunday that 536 information centers will be set up around the clock. The government also plans to increase the number of designated treatment centers for the viral disease from 726 to 800. Doctors call on people to do what has been preached to prevent flu waves for years: wash your hands regularly or best disinfect them with alcohol.
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