Japan: Two more US military personnel test positive on Okinawa island

Two more US military personnel have tested positive for Coronavirus on the Japanese island of Okinawa, international media reported citing island’s officials. Till now, over 143 soldiers from the US’ Marine corps and their families have contracted the respiratory infection. A virtual lockdown was soon imposed on the facilities by the Japanese authorities.  

According to reports, these two latest cases have been recorded in Futenma Base in Okinawa while other cases are spread across six other military facilities in the country. Talking about the surge in infection, Japanese defence minister Taro Kono has asserted that the outbreak in Okinawa was “extremely serious”. 

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'Serious situation' 

Earlier this week, three US personnel tested positive for coronavirus after arriving in Tokyo. However, they all took a commercial flight en route to Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni in Yamaguchi Prefecture, raising fears of the spread of the virus. Calling it a rather “serious situation”, Kono, meanwhile has asked the US authorities to strictly punish the violators and take serious action to prevent recurrence in future.

This comes as Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki is set to arrive in Tokyo on July 15, to seek help from the centre to press for more disclosure from the US military, and halt the arrivals of new US military personnel from outside Japan. Okinawan officials have confirmed that most of the cases since early July were at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute. Others were at Camp Hansen, Camp Kinser and Camp McTureous, they added.

Meanwhile, the defence minister revealed that officials have discovered "a number of problems” with U.S. military measures to guard against the coronavirus among service members stationed in Japan after over 100 Marines tested positive at several bases on the southern island of Okinawa. Kono said the problems were discovered after Japanese officials requested information from the U.S. military. He refused to give details, but said the problems exist at U.S. bases throughout Japan, not just on Okinawa.

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 Image credits: AP