Jan 30 (Japan Today) - The first group of Japanese evacuees from a virus-hit Chinese city arrived in Tokyo on Wednesday, a dozen of them with coughs and fever including two who were later diagnosed with pneumonia.
Five of the 206 evacuees were taken to designated Tokyo hospitals specializing in treating infectious diseases, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary session , adding that they were still checking if any passengers were ill with the virus.
Two who had pneumonia were not yet linked to the new coronavirus, Tokyo city officials said. All five patients, being treated at two Tokyo hospitals, were stable, hospital officials said.
Later Wednesday, seven other evacuees who cleared an earlier screening on board were also found to have cough and fever in a secondary screening and were hospitalized, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said in a statement.
Japan's government sent a chartered flight to pick up the evacuees, most of whom resided close to the Wuhan seafood market linked to the first cases of the new virus that has infected thousands.
"We were feeling increasingly uneasy as the situation developed so rapidly when we were still in the city," Takeo Aoyama, an employee at Nippon Steel Corp.'s subsidiary in Wuhan, told reporters at Tokyo's Haneda airport while he waited for a bus to take him to a hospital for another health check.
"My uneasiness peaked when the number of patients started to spike," he said, wearing a mask that muffled his voice. "I fell asleep as soon as I sat down on my seat (on the plane)," he said. Other evacuees seated near him also seemed relieved but tired.
Japan has seven cases including what could be the first human-to-human infection in the country, a man in his 60s who worked as a tour bus driver and served two groups of Chinese tourists from Wuhan from Jan. 8-16.
The man, a resident of Nara in western Japan, developed cough, joint ache and chills on Jan. 14, the Health Ministry said. Three days after developing initial symptoms, he visited a hospital but was tested negative for the new coronavirus and was not hospitalized until he returned Saturday with signs of pneumonia.
Officials said about 650 Japanese citizens and their families in Wuhan and elsewhere in Hebei province had sought to return home. Aoyama said there are more than 400 others still in Wuhan, including those working for a Japanese supermarket chain that has stayed open to serve customers who need food and other necessities and supplies.
Source: ANNnewsCH
