The elderly man over 60 worked as a bus driver in the city of Nara with a group of Chinese tourists. He became the first to become infected with coronavirus without leaving Japan. Presumably, one of the travelling tourists was infected, but there were no symptoms of the disease, so he was allowed to cross the border. Later, the guide from the same bus was confirmed to have coronavirus.
The report comes after a Japanese citizen who was suspected of having been infected with the novel coronavirus died in the Chinese city of Wuhan.
The new strain of coronavirus – 2019-nCoV – was first detected in China’s central city of Wuhan in December and has since spread to more than 20 countries. Currently, there are over 34,000 people infected worldwide, and the death toll has soared past 720.