Japan will expand its entry ban linked to the spread of a new coronavirus first reported in China to include non-Japanese citizens who have recently been in China's Zhejiang Province, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Wednesday.

The expanded ban will be effective from Thursday, as the number of cases of infection with the coronavirus is continuing to rise in China, Japan and elsewhere in the world.

The entry ban currently affects only those who have recently been in Hubei Province, whose capital of Wuhan is the epicenter of the viral outbreak. Zhejiang is located east of Hubei.

"It's crucial to take more comprehensive and flexible border control measures" to prevent further transmissions of the virus into Japan, Abe told a meeting of the government's headquarters for responding to the outbreak.

On Feb. 1, the government started to refuse entry into Japan by non-Japanese people who have been in Hubei within the last two weeks and those holding Hubei-issued passports.

At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the government decided, at the operational level for the time being, to apply the entry ban on non-Japanese recently in Hubei or Zhejiang, while changing the ban's terms to not mention a specific area in China.

The change allows the government to further expand the entry ban flexibly, depending on the situation.

At a press conference on the day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the decision came after a comprehensive assessment of the situation, referring to coronavirus contagion in Zhejiang and travel restrictions in the major city of Wenzhou in the province, as well as medical care systems.

On the handling of cruise ships with passengers or crew members who are suspected of having the coronavirus, the government decided to block non-Japanese from disembarking from the ships, even without cabinet approval.

Regarding the Diamond Princess cruise ship currently quarantined off Yokohama, south of Tokyo, Abe said at the headquarters meeting that the capacity to conduct coronavirus tests of those on the ship is expected to increase to 1,000 a day by Tuesday from the current level of around 300.

Meanwhile, the prime minister said the government will confirm with local governments across the country that having a recent history of being in Hubei is not a condition for conducting coronavirus tests.

JIJI Press