Japan's minister cancels public appearances after coming in contact with COVID-19 patient

Japan's economy minister has called off his public appearances to work from home after it was found that he was in contact with a staffer infected with the coronavirus. Elaborating further, the country's Cabinet office reportedly said that Yasutoshi Nishimura, visited a hospital last week with an office staff who later tested positive for the COVID-19. According to reports, Nishimura had become the face of Japan’s economic efforts to deal with the pandemic over the last few weeks. 

“Neither the minister nor the staffer who tested positive for the virus has shown any symptoms, but as a precaution, the minister will remain at home until he receives further notice on his condition from health authorities,” the Cabinet office said in a statement. 

Remote appearances 

According to reports, the Japanese lawmaker cancelled a media briefing scheduled for 5 pm GMT on April 25 as well as a separate meeting planned to take place later in the day. However, he would make an appearance on a Japanese public broadcaster but not in person. As of now, Japan has reported 12,829 infections and 345 deaths due to coronavirus. In a bid to curb the spread, the Shinzo Abe led government has imposed a nationwide state of emergency since April 7 and closed all non-essential businesses. 

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Meanwhile, Japan's emergency medicine organisations said emergency medical care in the nation has begun to collapse, with many hospitals turning away patients who have a fever or other symptoms indicative of Coronavirus and putting excessive burden on the limited number of critical emergency centres.

The Japanese Association of Acute Medicine and the Japanese Society for Emergency Medicine held an online news briefing and representatives called for increased testing to facilitate the transfer of patients to appropriate medical facilities so that emergency rooms would be able to treat patients in critical condition for causes other than the coronavirus.

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(Image credits: AP)