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The Japanese government has announced that should an individual suspected of being infected with Ebola arrives in Japan, information including name of the airline, flight number and the number of passengers on board, will be made public.
Last week, a 45-year-old Canadian journalist arrived at Haneda Airport having just come from the West African nation of Liberia, and was suspected of being infected with the deadly Ebola virus. He was immediately quarantined and transported to a specialized hospital located within the Tokyo metropolitan area. The name and number of the flight he had arrived on was then announced to the public for safety reasons.
The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare said its decision to announce such information is to prevent widespread panic, TBS reported Wednesday.
From now on, the ministry will take blood samples from suspect patients and send them to the National Research Institute of Infectious Diseases for analysis. Patients suspected of being potential health threats will not only have information made public regarding their age, sex, symptoms, and possible persons with whom the patient has come in contact, but the government will also announce information regarding the flight they arrived on.
A Health Ministry spokesperson said that the flight information will be made public not to alarm others who were on the flight but instead to keep them well informed in case they need to take any action regarding their own health, TBS reported.
© Japan Today
14 Comments
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gogogo
Are you kidding me? All the passengers info? This is Japan, those people would be ostracized from the entire community they live in, children told not to come to school, parents told not to go outside their house, people moving house.... it would be wide spread panic!
EUgirl
Agree. In some other country this might work, but in Japan - no. Those people on the same flight have to say goodbye to any normal life for at least for a year.
Harry_Gatto
The article doesn't quite say that passengers will be identified by name; I can't see a whole passenger and crew list being made public.
daito_hak
Welcome to Japan.
What don't they just also give their names while they are at it?
FightingViking
I beg to differ - It could probably be a cause for panic. (It seems the new "secrecy law" will be for all the wrong reasons..).
budgie
That's great because in uber-tolerant Japan there's no way that individual won't be stigmatized for life, 'miright?
kitzrow
Are we certain there has been only one person? That is a bit hard for me to believe considering how many planes arrive in Japan every day.
Stuart hayward
"Suspected"of being infected, who in going to be in charge of the suspecting? Such information is to prevent widespread panic? Lol
Cricky
Buracrats at their best creating senseless work for themselves with no negative or positive results, kudos to them. Welcome to Japan please wait an indefinable time until we have a meeting to decide what to do.
kiyoshiMukai
This is to encourage people not to travel to Africa
Badge213
Nothing says about individuals being identified, information about: name of the airline, flight number and the number of passengers on board, will be made public
sidesmile
Actually it says information "including". It then goes on to say that information will be "made public regarding their age, sex, symptoms, and possible persons with whom the patient has come in contact". How will they announce the info? On the evening news, in the arrivals lounge, running up to folks point and yelling "Ugh! Ebola!"..