Japan’s health minister on Sunday urged the public to avoid crowds and “non-essential gatherings”, including notoriously packed commuter trains, to prevent the new coronavirus from spreading in the country.
Katsunobu Kato warned the nation was “entering a new phase” in the outbreak of the virus, which has infected nearly 60 people in Japan so far.
“We want to ask the public to avoid non-urgent, non-essential gatherings. We want elderly and those with pre-existing conditions to avoid crowded places,” Kato said after a meeting of a panel of experts.
Kato said cases with no clear transmission chains and involving people who have not travelled to China, where the outbreak began, meant Japan was entering a new stage.
Japan has been pushing Tokyo residents to try telecommuting or avoid rush hour commutes to ease traffic congestion during the summer Tokyo Olympic Games.
The comments come after a spate of new infections were confirmed over the weekend, raising the total number of cases inside Japan to 59.
Those numbers exclude hundreds of cases aboard a cruise ship, as well as a quarantine officer who tested people on the boat.
“It is expected that domestic infections will continue,” Wakita said, adding that Japan was at an early stage of the spread.
