TOKYO: The Japanese government said Monday it will designate pneumonia caused by a new type of coronavirus that is spreading mainly in China as a specified infectious disease.

The government plans to make the move at a cabinet meeting Tuesday. The designation under the infectious disease law will allow authorities to conduct compulsory hospitalization of infected patients and stop them from attending work.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe unveiled the policy at a meeting of the Budget Committee of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.

"The government will make utmost efforts to prevent the spread of the infections in Japan," Abe said.

The designation of a specified infectious disease is made when the disease is not included in the list of major infectious diseases in the law.

In 2003, the government designated severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as a specified infectious disease. A similar measure was taken for Middle East respiratory syndrome, or MERS, in 2014.

The government also accelerated its preparations to evacuate Japanese nationals from Wuhan, Hubei Province, where the outbreak of the new coronavirus started.

The government will send commercial chartered flights as early as Tuesday so that all Japanese nationals willing to return home can do so.

At a press conference, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said that some 560 Japanese nationals are in the Chinese province.

"We'll help all Japanese nationals there who want to return home to come back to Japan as soon as arrangements are made with the Chinese government," Suga said.

Toshihiro Nikai, secretary-general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, told reporters that he hears the government will start sending the flights as early as Tuesday.

The government is also considering utilizing a government plane for the evacuation, informed sources said.

At a meeting Monday, the Tokyo metropolitan government confirmed that up to about 50 inpatient beds at four metropolitan government-linked hospitals can be made available to people returning from Wuhan.

In response to China's ban on group tours to overseas destinations, Suga said that the government will closely watch effects of the measure on the Japanese economy.

As the number of Chinese travelers to Japan has been surging recently, the government will gather information and closely monitor the situation, he said.

JIJI Press