TOKYO: Yasushi Nakayama, mayor of the city of Kyotango, demanded Wednesday that the Defense Ministry request the US military in Japan to conduct soon, among others, coronavirus tests on all personnel including civilian workers at an army base in the Kyoto Prefecture city.

Nakayama made the demand at a meeting in Tokyo with State Defense Minister Tomohiro Yamamoto, after 11 soldiers and employees at the US Army’s Kyogamisaki communications station and two close contacts tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Up to 160 people, of which 140 are civilians, work at the base, a key facility in the US missile defense radar system. All of them live outside the facility.

Nakayama said every single person having jobs at the base should take a PCR test and stay home. He also called on the US side to swiftly disclose information on close contacts.

Yamamoto pledged to convey the mayor’s request to the US military.

JIJI Press