Three Japanese evacuated from Wuhan have new coronavirus

Three Japanese evacuated from the epicentre of a deadly new coronavirus outbreak have tested positive for the illness, the government said on Thursday as it faced criticism for the country's minimal quarantine measures.

The new cases were announced as a second evacuation flight from Wuhan landed in Tokyo, and the government confirmed a second case of apparent person-to-person transmission of the virus in Japan.

More than 400 people have now been repatriated to Japan from Wuhan, the centre of the outbreak that has killed 170 people and infected thousands.

But while returnees praised the government's effort to bring them home quickly, there has been criticism of Japan's decision to allow the arrivals to "self-quarantine," with two people on the first flight even refusing to be tested for the virus.

Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said there were now 11 confirmed cases in Japan.

"In addition to the eight (previously known) cases, among the people who returned from Wuhan yesterday, infection has been confirmed in one person with symptoms and two other people who have no symptoms," he told Parliament.

On Wednesday, authorities reported a second case involving someone who had not recently travelled to China.

The woman was a tour guide who worked on the same bus as a driver who also contracted the virus without travelling to China.

"The eighth case is the second suspected incident of human-to-human transmission in Japan," Kato said.

"We are in a truly new situation."
"This test is not mandatory and we ask for it on a voluntary basis," he told lawmakers. "We don't have the legal basis to force them so we let them go home."
"People talk about human rights, but how is quarantine discrimination?" asked another, adding: "Becoming the source of a pandemic would definitely be negative for a person who was released instead of quarantined."