Japan has just confirmed its first two cases of the coronavirus without any signs of infection.

According to health ministry officials, these two cases are the first to made public outside of China, NHK World reports.

Two cases involve a man and woman returning to Japan from Wuhan city

The ministry stated that three evacuees from Wuhan city have this new type of coronavirus.

These three people returned to Japan on a government-chartered flight on Wednesday, alongside 203 other passengers.

Both a man in his 40s and a woman in her 50s tested positive for the virus, although they did not show any signs of infection.

The last man in his 50s first reported a pain in his throat before developing a fever. He was then tested positive for the virus.

Reassuring citizens, the ministry has said that it is "unlikely transmission can occur from asymptomatic virus carriers," Nikkei Asian Review reports.

Out of all the passengers on the flight, 201 did not have any virus detected in them.

However, two other passengers refused to take the test, and are currently being persuaded by health officials to get tested.

President Shinzo Abe has said that he is confident that all evacuees on subsequent flights will give their consent to undergo medical tests.

This is because the Japanese government has recently given the illness special designations, meaning people can be told to undergo medical tests and be hospitalised without their consent.

That being said, these measures will only come into effect on February 7, 2020.

Tokyo plans to charter more flights to bring back more people from Wuhan to Japan

A second plane carrying 210 Japanese nationals from Wuhan city touched down at Haneda airport on the morning of January 30, 2020.

14 passengers on that flight exhibited symptoms and have been sent to a special hospital for infectious diseases.

The government is considering chartering more flights to bring back another 300 people who want to return to Japan.

Evacuees without symptoms are being asked to stay at a hotel east of Tokyo or in police lodgings in the capital for the time being.

A total of 11 confirmed cases in Japan, virus not yet an epidemic

As of now, a total of 11 people have been infected by the coronavirus in Japan.

Several of them involve human-to-human transmission, such as two patients who were a tour guide and tour bus driver on tour buses with visitors from Wuhan, Japan Today reports.

However, the health ministry has urged the public not to be alarmed as the coronavirus is not yet an epidemic in the country.

Health minister Katsunobu Kato has also said that the situation has not yet reached the stage when the government needs to cancel large-scale events.

Photo by Takuya Tamura on Unsplash

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