TOKYO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd February, 2020) The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus disease, officially called COVID-19, in Japan increased by 15 over the past day, with most of them registered on the northern island of Hokkaido, the NHK broadcaster reported on Saturday, citing data received from the authorities of Japanese prefectures.
Thus, the total number of cases amounted to 758, including 29 people living in Tokyo, 16 on Hokkaido and 13 in Wakayama Prefecture. The total number of those infected inside Japan was 110 people. Another 14 people were confirmed to be infected upon their return to the country from China's Wuhan.
The remaining 634 people infected with COVID-2019 are passengers or crew members of the Diamond Princess cruise ship quarantined in the Japanese port of Yokohama.
On Friday, Japanese authorities completed the first phase of evacuation from the ship after a two-week quarantine, letting 970 passengers ashore. About 1,200 people, including crew members and those passengers who have been in close contact with someone infected, remain on the ship. On Saturday, another 100 more people left the ship and all of them were transferred to a hostel of an educational institution in Saitama Prefecture, where they will spend some more time to rule out the infection.
The new coronavirus was first detected in China in late December and has since spread to more than 25 other countries, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency. The outbreak has already left over 77,000 people infected worldwide and resulted in more than 2,300 deaths.
