TOKYO: Shuichi Takatori, a House of Representatives member from Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, has been infected with the novel coronavirus, the lower chamber of the Diet, the country’s parliament, said Friday.

Takatori became the first Japanese lawmaker to get the virus. He is now hospitalized, but his symptoms are light.

Takatori had a fever of 37.5 degrees Celsius on Friday morning and tested positive for the coronavirus in an antigen test, according to his office.

He attended Wednesday’s Lower House plenary meeting, in which a voting to designate the country’s new prime minister was held, and took part in a meeting of the LDP faction, to which he belongs, on Thursday. He was absent from Diet business on Friday, when a three-day extraordinary parliamentary session ended.

His office apologized for causing concern and trouble, and said that it is waiting for a report from a public health center on his infection route and people who had close contact with the lawmaker.

JIJI Press