Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection among Returnees to Japan from Wuhan, China, 2020
Yuzo Arima, Satoshi Kutsuna, Tomoe Shimada, Motoi Suzuki, Tadaki Suzuki, Yusuke Kobayashi, Yuuki Tsuchihashi, Haruna Nakamura, Kaoru Matsumoto, Asuka Takeda, Keisuke Kadokura, Tetsuro Sato, Yuichiro Yahata, Noriko Nakajima, Minoru Tobiume, Ikuyo Takayama, Tsutomu Kageyama, Shinji Saito, Naganori Nao, Tamano Matsui, Tomimasa Sunagawa, Hideki Hasegawa, Kayoko Hayakawa, Shinya Tsuzuki, Yusuke Asai, Tetsuya Suzuki, Satoshi Ide, Keiji Nakamura, Yuki Moriyama, Noriko Kinoshita, Yutaro Akiyama, Yusuke Miyazato, Hidetoshi Nomoto, Takato Nakamoto, Masayuki Ota, Sho Saito, Masahiro Ishikane, Shinichiro Morioka, Kei Yamamoto, Mugen Ujiie, Mari Terada, Haruhito Sugiyama, Norihiro Kokudo, Norio Ohmagari, Makoto Ohnishi, Takaji Wakita, the COVID-19 Response Team
Abstract
W ith the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan, China, several countries, including Japan, repatriated their nationals (1-3). During January 29-31, 2020, a total of 566 Japanese nationals were repatriated via 3 chartered flights from Wuhan (206, 210, and 150 passengers). After passengers disembarked in Tokyo, Japan, quarantine officials assessed them for signs/symptoms (e.g., fever, respiratory illness) of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) (4). A total of 28 symptomatic passengers were transferred to select hospitals for isolation. The remaining 538 were transported to a designated hospital, where another 35 were found to be symptomatic and were hospitalized there or transferred to other hospitals, leaving 503 asymptomatic persons for observation in quarantine (Figure).