Japan confirms 1st domestic case of coronavirus infection

TOKYO. KAZINFORM The government confirmed Tuesday the first case of human-to-human transmission in Japan of a deadly new virus, while it also sent its first plane to repatriate citizens from Wuhan, the Chinese city at the center of the outbreak.

A Japanese bus driver in his 60s living in Nara Prefecture, western Japan, who has never been to Wuhan but had transported tourists who were from there, was among three more people found infected on Tuesday with the new coronavirus. The latest cases brought a national tally of confirmed infections to seven, Kyodo reports.

A chartered plane, a wide-body Boeing 767 operated by All Nippon Airways Co., arrived in the city in Hubei Province, central China, at around 11:30 p.m. local time to evacuate some 200 Japanese nationals staying there.

The government has been stepping up efforts to prevent the deadly strain of coronavirus from spreading further within Japan, classifying it as a «designated infectious disease» that allows steps to quarantine patients.