Japan to require travelers from U.S. to self-quaranteen for 14 days amid COVID-19 concerns

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday said that travelers arriving from the United States will be asked to self-quarantine for 14 days in an effort to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With the measure becoming effective from Thursday, in-bound travelers from the United States will be required to self-isolate in their hotels or places of residence and not use public transportation systems, an official from the government said.

Similar steps by Japan to try and contain the spread of the pneumonia-causing virus have been taken with travelers from China, South Korea, Iran, Egypt and the majority of Europe, with the latter now regarded as the new epicenter of the virus.

Japan, for its part, has raised its warning level by one point due to the spread of the virus in the United States, with the foreign ministry urging people here to avoid all non-essential travel to the United States.

The United States has also warned its citizens to avoid non-essential travel to Japan, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention there setting its COVID-19 warning at its highest level for Japan, warning of "widespread ongoing transmission".

Japan's health ministry and local governments said Monday the total number of people infected with the COVID-19 virus in Japan stood at 1,119 as of 8:30 p.m. local time here.

The death toll in Japan from the pneumonia-causing virus currently stands at a total of 52 people, according to the health ministry, with the figure including those from the virus-hit Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Yokohama, close to Tokyo.

Of the 1,119 confirmed COVID-19 cases in Japan, the majority are in Japan's northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, which has confirmed 162 cases.

Japan's capital city of Tokyo, as of 8:30 p.m. local time, has reported 138 cases of people infected with the COVID-19 virus.