New virus spreads to Japan after man falls ill on return from China

Anew virus that has hit a city in central China has spread to Japan, officials have confirmed.

The Japanese government said a man treated for pneumonia after returning from China has tested positive for the new coronavirus identified as a possible cause of an outbreak in the city of Wuhan.

The man developed a fever and cough on January 3 while in Wuhan and on his return to Japan was hospitalised as the symptoms persisted, the government has said.

Tests conducted on Tuesday found the same coronavirus as had been detected in other patients in the Wuhan outbreak.

The man has been released from hospital as his condition improved. He has been identified as a man in his 30s in the Kanagawa prefecture, west of Tokyo, and Kyodo News agency says he is Chinese. His family and medical staff who treated him have not fallen ill.

So far 41 people in China have been diagnosed with the novel coronavirus – which causes a fever, breathing difficulties and pneumonia – since it was first detected at the start of the month, including a 61-year-old man who died last week.

The World Health Organization also has said it was consulting with Thai and Chinese health authorities after a case was reported in Thailand of a Chinese traveller.

Eiji Hinoshita, an infectious disease expert at Japan’s ministry of labour, welfare and health, told reporters that the man said he did not go to the fish market in Wuhan linked to the pneumonia outbreak, but had “close contact” with at least one person with pneumonia symptoms at a place where he stayed during the visit.

Ministry officials are checking further the patient’s activity and people he had contact in China and in Japan since his return.

The WHO has said that there are signs of “limited” human-to-human transmission of the disease but so far believes that the virus does not spread easily between humans. 

There is no evidence that health workers – usually the most vulnerable in disease outbreaks – have been infected with the new virus, which is the seventh coronavirus to be detected in humans.

The news comes just ahead of the lunar new year when many Chinese tourists are expected to travel. The ministry is urging those visiting or returning from Wuhan to wear masks and urgently seek medical help if they have a cough and fever. 

China has sought to play down speculation that it could be a reappearance of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) epidemic, which spread around the world in 2002 and 2003, infecting around 8,000 people and killing killed 800.

But while China was then accused of covering up the epidemic, the WHO has this time praised the country’s rapid identification of the new coronavirus and the decision to share the virus’ genetic sequence.

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses, some of which cause the common cold. Others found in bats, camels and other animals have evolved to cause more severe illnesses.

Health experts are still not unsure where this new virus has come from.

Common symptoms include a runny nose, headache, cough and fever. Shortness of breath, chills and body aches are associated with more dangerous kinds of coronaviruses, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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The US State Department on Wednesday warned Americans in China about the outbreak. In an alert by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention the government urged citizens traveling to Wuhan to avoid contact with animals, animal markets and animal products.

It also recommended precautions, such as washing hands often with soap and water and to seek medical care immediately if a person has travelled to Wuhan and feels sick. 

Public Health England also issued advice last week, saying that the risk to travellers and to the UK population at the moment remained “low” and it was unnecessary to change plans to visit Wuhan. But the government advised people to take precautionary measures, such as practising good personal hygiene and avoiding contact with animal markets in Wuhan.

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