TOKYO: Japan's government decided Friday to impose a temporary ban on entry by all foreigners with recent histories of staying in China's Hubei Province, including its capital, Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak of a new coronavirus.

The entry ban will be in place "for the time being" from Saturday, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a meeting on the day of the government's headquarters for responding to the ongoing spread of the new coronavirus.

The move comes after the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency on Thursday, in the face of the spread of the coronavirus that has caused numerous people to develop pneumonia in China and other parts of the world.

It will be the first time for the Japanese government to impose an entry ban that specifies a certain area.

Subject to the ban will be foreigners with histories of being in Hubei within the previous 14 days and holders of Chinese passports issued by the province, regardless of whether they have been confirmed to have the virus or not. "We can't deal with this unprecedented crisis if we stick to precedents," the prime minister stressed, instructing cabinet ministers to respond flexibly.

On Saturday, the government is set to designate pneumonia from the coronavirus as a specified infectious disease under the infectious diseases control law and the quarantine law.

The designation, to be moved up from the earlier planned Feb. 7, will allow the government to implement the entry ban under the immigration control law.

Authorities will also be allowed to forcibly hospitalize patients with the coronavirus and restrict their work. Meanwhile, doctors will be obliged to report discoveries of such patients.

JIJI Press