Eight of confirmed COVID-19 infected staff at Chiba care home are family members

Written with extraxts from Kyodo

March 29th 2020

TOKYO & CHIBA – At least 68 new coronavirus infections were confirmed in Tokyo on Sunday, its biggest daily increase, a metropolitan government official said, as the capital struggles with a recent surge in the number of cases.

The figure followed 63 reported on Saturday and 40 on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in Tokyo to 430, the largest among Japan’s 47 prefectures.

Of the increase on Sunday, 27 cases were from Eiju General Hospital in Taito Ward, taking the total there to 96, with authorities suspecting in-hospital infections.

In Chiba Prefecture, east of Tokyo, an additional 20 cases were reported in a group infection at a welfare facility, where 58 had been found infected by Saturday.

Eight family members of its infected staff were also confirmed Sunday to have contracted the virus, the prefectural government said. At the facility, Hokuso Ikusei-en, in the town of Tonosho, people with disabilities engage in craftwork, horticulture and other activities.