A man in his 70s has been infected with the new coronavirus, the Sendai municipal government announced Saturday, the first confirmed case in the Tohoku region.
The man was one of the passengers on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was docked in Yokohama Port. He disembarked on Feb. 20 after testing negative and traveled back to Sendai from Tokyo on the Tohoku Shinkansen Line.
He tested positive on Saturday after being admitted to a medical institution in the city that is designated for infectious diseases. His symptoms have been a slight fever and sore throat since Friday.
Although he is in hospital, he is said to not be in a serious condition. It is reported that he had worn a mask during his Shinkansen trip and when he left home to go shopping.
One family member of the patient apparently had close contact with him, but tested negative.
Meanwhile, the Kochi prefectural government announced Saturday it had confirmed that a nurse in her 30s, who is a resident of Kochi City, has been infected with the virus. While she had been exhibiting some symptoms since around mid-February, she continued working while wearing a mask. It is not confirmed whether she had contact with people such as those from Wuhan in China's Hubei Province.
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