Japan's health ministry said Friday it will encourage more companies to promote telework and staggered working hours as part of efforts to prevent further spread of the new coronavirus in Japan.
The total number of infections confirmed in Japan topped 730 on Friday with more new cases, including two brothers attending a primary school, reported in Hokkaido, and a preschool boy in Saitama Prefecture. The total figure includes 634 cases from the Diamond Princess, a cruise ship that was quarantined at Yokohama Port, south of Tokyo, where the third and final group of around 450 passengers who have tested negative for the virus disembarked Friday.
The ministry said over 100 passengers who had close contact with infected passengers by sharing rooms will also disembark and move to a government-provided facility, scrapping the original plan to make them stay another 14 days on the ship. Britain, Italy and Taiwan sent planes to repatriate citizens Friday, while Indonesia and the Philippines plan to do so.The departures have come amid mounting criticism of the Japanese government's handling of the pneumonia-causing coronavirus outbreak. The virus, which originated in China's Hubei Province, spread on the ship during its two-week quarantine period.