Japan keeps high coronavirus alert as nationals return from China

NTT Data

17/02/2020 02:27

TOKYO, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Japan evacuated more nationals
from the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak on Monday, while
concerns about the spreading disease raised the possibility that
organisers may cut the number of participants at next month's
Tokyo Marathon.
    A fifth government-chartered flight carrying 65 Japanese
nationals arrived in Tokyo from Wuhan, China, early on Monday,
bringing the total number of Japanese repatriated from the city
to 763, broadcaster NHK reported. 
    With more than 400 people infected, the majority passengers
on a cruise ship docked off the country, Japan is the country
most affected by the epidemic after China, where the outbreak
was first detected in December and which has now killed more
than 1,700 people.
    The widening fallout is damaging output and tourism in
Japan, undermining growth and potentially pushing the country
into recession, analysts say.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AE05X urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2AH0DC
    Hundreds of passengers were preparing to be evacuated from a
cruise ship after spending two weeks under quarantine off Japan
over the coronavirus, with Americans flying home on chartered
evacuation planes early Monday morning.
    Canada, South Korea, Hong Kong and Italy have followed the
United States in announcing flights to bring home their citizens
from the ship, which has been under quarantine since Feb. 3.
    The risk that cases in Japan may increase is threatening to
limit one of the world's biggest marathons to be held on March
1.     
    Organisers of the Tokyo Marathon are considering restricting
the number of general participants in this year's race as a
precaution against the further spread of infection, the Asahi
newspaper reported, citing unnamed sources.
    Marathon organisers were not immediately available for
comment.
    Trimming down the size of the marathon, one of the six major
city races which has more than 300,000 entrants this year, would
be the latest move to curb an international sporting event in
Japan due to the virus.
    The FIBA Asia Cup 2021 has postponed a qualifying basketball
match between Japan and China, which was initially scheduled to
be held in Chiba, near Tokyo, later this week.
    Companies are stepping up measures to prevent the spread of
the virus as the number of infections in the country ticks up
daily. A growing number of cases have been reported in people
who have neither visited China nor have had direct contact with
people arriving from the country.
    Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp  9432.T , one of Japan's
biggest companies, said it was urging its roughly 200,000
group-wide employees to work from home or stagger their
commutes.
    On Friday, NTT Data Corp  9613.T  said an external employee
who works at one of its buildings was confirmed with the
coronavirus. The company had ordered 14 workers who had come
into close contact with this person to work at home, it said.  

 (Reporting by Naomi Tajitsu, additional reporting by Noriyuki
Hirata and Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
 ((naomi.tajitsu@thomsonreuters.com; +81364411078; Reuters
Messaging: naomi.tajitsu.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))