TOKYO: Two more people have died in Japan after being infected with the new coronavirus while the first case of infection in Saga Prefecture, southwestern Japan, was confirmed Friday.

Separately, a male Maritime Self-Defense Force member stationed at to the Defense Ministry's Joint Staff tested positive for the virus on Friday. It is the first time that a Self-Defense Forces member has been confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus.

The two dead patients were a man in his 90s in Nagoya, the capital of the central Japan prefecture of Aichi, and an elderly man in the same city whose age is undisclosed at the will of the bereaved family. They died on Friday, bringing the death toll related to the virus to 10 in the city.

The person who tested positive in Saga Prefecture is a male university student, a resident in the city of Saga, the capital of the prefecture. He kicked off a tour of France on Feb. 27 and returned home on March 4. The student developed fever and headache on Monday, according to the prefectural government.

The MSDF member, in his 40s, traveled to France earlier this month while on duty and attended a defense-related seminar there, according to the Defense Ministry. The seminar was called off, however, as a participant was found infected with the virus, and the MSDF member returned to Japan on Friday. Upon arrival back at Tokyo International Airport at Haneda, he was sent to a hospital using an SDF vehicle, and a virus test conducted on him showed a positive result, the ministry said.

A male nurse in his 30s at a medical institution designated for infectious disease treatment in the city of Amagasaki, Hyogo Prefecture, western Japan, was also confirmed to be infected with the virus Friday.

The nurse at the Hyogo Prefectural Amagasaki General Medical Center visited a medical institution after developing fever last Saturday. He is now hospitalized and in a stable condition.

Sources said that the nurse, who works at the emergency department of the institution, did not have contact with any of the 19 coronavirus patients hospitalized there. The chances of the nurse having been infected with the virus at the medical center are slim, according to the institution.

According to the health ministry, a Japanese man in his 30s tested positive for the virus in a quarantine check at the Haneda airport Friday.

The man, a resident of the western Japan prefecture of Osaka, who returned to Japan on Thursday, had been to the northern Italian region of Lombardy, which is seeing a major spread of the new coronavirus, within the preceding two weeks.

It is the first time that infection has been confirmed at an airport quarantine station since Japan started on Monday entry restrictions related to the new coronavirus on travelers from regions including China.

JIJI Press