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| #1102 |
January 30, 2020. |
 Regarding the new coronavirus #3
Japan's health ministry has confirmed three new cases of infection with the new-type coronavirus in the country, bringing the
total to 11.
The ministry says three evacuees from the Chinese city of Wuhan have tested positive for the virus.
The three individuals were among the 206 passengers who returned to Japan on Wednesday on a government-chartered flight.
A man in his 50s has a fever. Another man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s do not have any symptoms.
These are the first cases in Japan of patients who have contracted the virus but are not showing any signs of infection.
Health ministry officials told news media on Tuesday night that the latest Japanese infected is a man in his 60s from Nara
Prefecture in western Japan.
They said he is a tour bus driver who had been driving a group of visitors from Wuhan from January 8 to 11, and again from
January 12 to 16.
He had complained of symptoms, including chills and coughing, on January 14.
He went to a local hospital three days later for a check-up and nothing was found. But he began to suffer from arthritic
pain on the 22nd and his cough worsened. He was admitted to hospital on the 25th and confirmed 3 days later to have the
new coronavirus. He remains in hospital but is reported to be getting better.
Health officials say it is highly likely that he was infected by a visitor from Wuhan on the bus. They say no one in the
tour group was found to have symptoms of pneumonia, but that it's possible the infected visitor was not showing symptoms.
Nara Prefecture officials on Wednesday revealed the route of the tour bus.
It started out from Narita airport near Tokyo and traveled to Nara Park, known for its roaming deer, considered national
treasures.
Professor Atsuo Hamada of Tokyo Medical University Hospital says some people who are infected are entering Japan, so,
it is reasonable to assume that they will infect others in the country in a second-generation spread. He says a third-
generation contraction of the virus would be a new phase in human-to-human infection.
Authorities in mainland China's say 170 people have died after contracting the new coronavirus. The number of confirmed
infections has topped 7,700.
As the outbreak grows more deadly, scientists are learning more about the virus. A Chinese research institute says it
may have come from bats.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology reported the results of its analysis online.
It says the gene sequence is 96 percent identical to that of a bat virus.
The head of a team of government medical experts echoed that finding. Zhong Nanshan told state media the new coronavirus
has the same origin as a virus found in bats three years ago.
But he told state-run media that like SARS, the coronavirus may have been transmitted to humans via other wild animals.
He said tests are being carried out on a range of wild animals to determine if that's the case.
In Australia, a team of scientists has also announced they've managed to grow the virus, in a breakthrough that could
help develop a vaccine.
Meanwhile, the governor of the Chinese province of Hubei, which is at the center of the outbreak, says medical supplies
are now dwindling across the province.
Wang Xiaodong said on Wednesday that the epicenter city of Wuhan, and nearby cities are experiencing shortages.
Cases are also spreading outside mainland China. The number now tops one hundred ... across 19 countries and territories.
Finland announced its first case on Wednesday. Instances of human-to-human transmission are suspected in Vietnam, Taiwan,
Japan and Germany.
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