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Post by Admin on Feb 5, 2020 1:18:27 GMT
The outpouring of condolences for the Japanese official is part of the warmer treatment the country is receiving in China, where the government has been lashing out at foreign countries—targeting its ire at the US in particular—for measures restricting Chinese nationals from entering their borders. In contrast, praise for Japan has been common online in recent days—all the more unusual given the long history of animosity between the two countries stemming from Japan’s invasion of China in 1937.
In part, that’s because Japan’s response to China’s coronavirus crisis has been far more relaxed than many other nations. While the US and Australia have barred travelers coming from mainland China in the last 14 days, Tokyo has so far only imposed an entry ban on all foreigners who have been to Hubei province, as well as holders of Chinese passports issued in Hubei. Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe said today he could expand the restrictions.
The praise has come even as Abe became one of the rare world leaders to speak out about the need for Taiwan to be allowed to participate in the World Health Organization. Taiwan is shut out of the United Nations body because of objections by China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.
Among the most widely circulated posts relating to Japan in China is one showing a photo of boxes of face masks said to be donations from a Chinese-language test center in Japan headed for Wuhan. One line of writing on a label attached to the boxes drew people’s attention. It read: 山川异域 风月同天 (shan chuan yi yu, feng yue tong tian), which roughly translates as “lands apart, shared sky.” The words are a line from Tō Daiwajō Tōseiden, a Japanese account of Chinese Buddhist monk Jianzhen’s travels in Japan in the 8th century. Jianzhen told his apprentices that this line was sewn onto robes given to him by a Japanese king who invited him to give lectures in the country. Moved by the king’s sincerity, he accepted the invitation.
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Post by Admin on Feb 16, 2020 18:01:01 GMT
The number of people who have tested positive for the new coronavirus on a quarantined ship off Japan’s coast has risen to 355, the country’s health minister said Sunday. “So far, we have conducted tests for 1,219 individuals. Of those, 355 people tested positive. Of those, 73 individuals are not showing symptoms,” Katsunobu Kato told a roundtable discussion on public broadcaster NHK — a rise of 70 from the last government toll. The new figures came as the United States was preparing to evacuate some of its citizens from the Diamond Princess, which has been in quarantine since February 5 in the port of Yokohama, near Tokyo. Hong Kong also said it would offer its 330 citizens on board the chance to take a charter flight back. “Based on the high number of COVID-19 cases identified onboard the Diamond Princess, the Department of Health and Human Services made an assessment that passengers and crew members onboard are at high risk of exposure,” the US embassy said in a letter to its passengers. Israel has unsuccessfully attempted to negotiate the release of the Israelis on board the ship. “The message from the Americans reinforces our feelings along with those of our relatives on the ship, that the quarantine on the boat is irrelevant, ineffective and dangerous,” Yoni Levy, whose mother and sister are aboard the Diamond Princess, told the Ynet news site on Saturday. “We hope that the Americans’ action will promote the release of Israelis to isolation in Israel.” According to the news outlet, the Israeli embassy in Tokyo updated the 15 Israeli passengers on board the cruise ship that Japanese authorities aim to evacuate all passengers from the ship by late Thursday. The overall death toll from China’s coronavirus epidemic jumped to 1,665 on Sunday after 142 more people died, although the number of new cases dropped for a third consecutive day.
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Post by Admin on Feb 16, 2020 20:54:44 GMT
The US plans to evacuate Americans from the Diamond Princess cruise ship, the site of the biggest coronavirus outbreak outside China, officials say. The ship has been held in quarantine in a Japanese port since 3 February. Out of 3,700 people on board, 218 have tested positive for the virus. US citizens will be offered seats on a government-chartered flight on Sunday, the US embassy in Tokyo said. Hundreds of Americans are among those stuck, and at least 24 have been diagnosed with the virus. But in a letter, the US embassy in Tokyo said healthy American citizens on board would be screened for symptoms before being able to board the plane home on Sunday. The aircraft is due to fly to Travis Air Force Base in California where some passengers will stay in quarantine for a further 14 days. The prospect of more time in isolation seemed to dismay some on board. "We would like to just finish the quarantine on the ship as planned, decompress in a non-quarantine environment in Japan for a few days, then fly back to the US pursuant to our own arrangements. What's wrong with that?" tweeted passenger Matthew Smith.
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Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2020 1:50:33 GMT
Another 70 cases of the coronavirus infection have been confirmed aboard the Diamond Princess cruise ship, currently quarantined in Japan, according to Japanese health officials. This brings the total number of cases aboard the vessel as of Sunday to 355, the largest confirmed cluster outside mainland China. People with confirmed infections have been taken to hospitals in Japan. After the ship's two weeks of quarantine at sea, officials from various countries, including Canada, Italy, Hong Kong and South Korea, are in the process of extracting their citizens from the vessel. The Diamond Princess is reported to have around 3,700 passengers and crew members. About half the passengers are from Japan, according to Reuters. Approximately 400 U.S. citizens are aboard the Diamond Princess. According to Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 44 Americans on the cruise ship have been infected, though not all are sick. The U.S. State Department has organized a charter flight to evacuate Americans as early as Sunday evening. Only those who are not currently showing symptoms of infection with the virus will be allowed to return to the U.S., where they will face two weeks of quarantine at military bases in California and Texas. Americans who are sick will stay in Japan to be treated. Those who are not infected are not required to board the U.S. chartered flight, but the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo has recommended that U.S. citizens get off the ship as soon as possible and take the chartered flight home. "We're excited and relieved [to return to the U.S.]," John Montgomery, a passenger on the Diamond Princess, told NPR. "The fact that we're going back to the United States to have a quarantine, we feel there's a much better situation." Montgomery is accompanied by his wife, Carol, who is also a U.S. citizen. He told NPR that they both "feel fine" and are prepared to remain in quarantine after returning to the United States. "We understand why through an abundance of caution that an additional testing and evaluation and quarantine would guarantee that we're not bringing it back to the States," Montgomery told NPR.
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Post by Admin on Feb 17, 2020 5:53:10 GMT
A laboratory in the United States has produced the most detailed images to date of the novel coronavirus currently spreading across the globe. The digitally colorized images illustrate the crown-like appearance of the virus, now officially named SARS-CoV-2 due to its similarity to the 2002 SARS virus. The new images were produced by a team at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases' (NIAID's) Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) in Hamilton, Montana, who say the virus is notably similar in appearance to both the MERS and SARS viruses. While the disease caused by the virus has been named Covid-19, the virus itself received a different title late last week when the International Committee of Taxonomy of Viruses named the pathogen SARS-CoV-2. The naming of the virus recognizes its similarity to the SARS virus, calling it a "sister to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronaviruses (SARS-CoVs)." There has been confusion over the past week due to the virus and disease being given different names, unlike the recent SARS and MERS scenarios where the virus and disease were dubbed with similar titles. Some scientists have expressed frustration over the naming confusion, particularly with the new virus's name essentially being titled SARS version 2.
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