Mar 13 (NHK) - The coronavirus outbreak is affecting the operation of elderly daycare centers in Japan as infections spread among staff and clients. Some facilities have been forced to suspend their services.
As of Thursday, groups of infections had been reported at elderly daycare centers in Aichi, Hyogo and Chiba prefectures.
Aichi prefectural officials said on Wednesday that more than 40 people have been infected since the start of March in a cluster stemming from a daycare center in Nagoya City, the prefectural capital. They said the infected include clients, staff and the people around them.
In Hyogo Prefecture, six people associated with a daycare center in the city of Itami had tested positive as of Wednesday. One of the six people, a man who had used the facility, died on Tuesday.
In Chiba Prefecture, a daycare center in Ichikawa City had six coronavirus cases, including clients, employees and their families, as of Wednesday.
The health ministry says municipal authorities can request the temporary closure of daycare facilities, including those where no cases have been confirmed.
Nagoya City asked 126 centers to close for two weeks from March 7. Ichikawa City says it will ask the operators of facilities to limit the number of clients.
The ministry says daycare centers that suspend or scale down their services can send staff to people's homes to provide care.
